Recent research emphasizes that individuals in war-torn societies are
affected differently by several forms of violence. Especially, the
distinction among acts of one-sided violence between targeted and
non-targeted ones has been theorized to affect individuals
differently. While one-sided violence is expected to reduce
interpersonal trust and trust in governmental institution more
generally, targeted one-sided violence should be even more
detrimental, especially if carried out by government actors. Drawing
on a large set of surveys and information on perpetrators and targets
of one-sided violence we assess these expected effects empirically,
drawing on variation both across time and space. Our results are in line with
the hitherto largely anecdotal findings that
targeted one-sided violence has nefarious consequences, well beyond
those of violence more generally.