Description
Civil war is the most frequent and destructive form of armed conflict today. Nearly a third of societies that have experienced one civil war also experience a second or a third war. As a consequence, ninety per cent of the civil wars in the first decade of the twenty-first century were recurrences of previous civil wars. Despite the destructive consequences of civil war recurrence, much remains to be learned about the factors leading to the resumption of widespread violence after a peace accord and about the interventions and agreement provisions preventing the breakdown of political agreements. The papers in this panel adopt different methodological approaches to explore a variety of factors related with recurrence of civil war, including the design of negotiations and accords, the role of women, the impact of elections and of third-party intervention, and the role of former military commanders. It hopes to open a broader debate on ways to explain and prevent the recurrence of civil wars across the globe.
