We introduce the contributions to this special issue on “Disaggregating Civil War.” We review the problems arising from excessive aggregation in studies of civil war, and outline how disaggregation promises to provide better insights into the causes and dynamics of civil wars, using the articles in this special issue as examples. We comment on the issue of the appropriate level of disaggregation, lessons learned from these articles, and issues for further research.
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2.
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6.
Buhaug, Halvard, Scott Gates, and Päivi Lujala.2009. Geography, rebel capability, and the duration of civil conflict. Journal of Conflict Resolution53:544-69.
7.
Buhaug, Halvard, and Päivi Lujala.2005. Accounting for scale: Measuring geography in quantitative studies of civil war. Political Geography24 (4):399-418.
8.
Buhaug, Halvard, and Jan Ketil Rød .2006. Local determinants of African civil wars, 1970-2001. Political Geography25 (3): 315-35.
9.
Cederman, Lars-Erik2002. Nationalism and ethnicity. In The handbook of international relations, ed. Walter Carlsnaes , Thomas Risse, and Beth Simmons. London : Sage.
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Cederman, Lars-Erik, Halvard Buhaug, and Jan-Ketil Rød .2009. Ethno-nationalist dyads and civil war: A GIS-based analysis. Journal of Conflict Resolution53:569-525.
11.
Cederman, Lars-Erik, and Luc Girardin .2007. Beyond fractionalization: Mapping ethnicity onto nationalist insurgencies. American Political Science Review101 (1):173-85.
12.
Collier, Paul, and Anke Hoeffler.2004. Greed and grievance in civil war. Oxford Economic Papers56 (4): 563-95.
13.
Collier, Paul, and Nicholas Sambanis, eds. 2005a. Understanding civil war: Evidence and analysis. Vol. 1, Africa. Washington, DC: World Bank.
14.
---. 2005b. Understanding civil wars: Evidence and analysis: Vol. 2, other regions. Washington, DC: World Bank.
15.
Cunningham, David E., Kristian Skrede Gleditsch, and Idean Salehyan.2009. It takes two: A dyadic analysis of civil war duration and outcome. Journal of Conflict Resolution53:570-97.
16.
Fearon, James D., and David D. Laitin .2003. Ethnicity, insurgency, and civil war. American Political Science Review97 (1): 75-90.
17.
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18.
Gerring, John.2004. What is a case study and what is it good for? American Political Science Review98 (2): 341-54.
19.
Gleditsch, Kristian Skrede.2007. Transnational dimensions of civil war. Journal of Peace Research44 (3): 293-309.
20.
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Habyarimana, James, Macartan Humphreys, Daniel N. Posner, and Jeremy M. Weinstein .2007. Why does ethnic diversity undermine public goods provision? American Political Science Review101 (4): 709-25.
23.
Hegre, Håvard, Gudrun stby, and Clionadh Raleigh .2009. Poverty and civil war events: A disaggregated study of Liberia. Journal of Conflict Resolution53:598-623.
24.
Kalyvas, Stathis N.2006. The logic of violence in civil war. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ---. 2007. Civil wars. In The Oxford handbook of comparative politics, ed. Carles Boix and Susan Stokes, 416-33. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
25.
---. 2008. Promises and pitfalls of an emerging research program: The microdynamics of civil war. In Order, conflict, violence , ed. Stathis N. Kalyvas, Ian Shapiro, and Tarek Masoud , 397-421. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
26.
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27.
stby, Gudrun.2008. Polarization, horizontal inequalities, and violent civil conflict. Journal of Peace Research45 (1): 143-62.
28.
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29.
Saideman, Stephen M.2001. The ties that divide: Ethnic politics, foreign policy, and international conflict. New York: Columbia University Press.
30.
Sambanis, Nicholas.2002. A review of recent advances and future directions in the literature on civil war. Defence and Peace Economics13 (3): 215-43.
31.
---. 2004. Using case studies to expand economic models of civil war. Perspectives on Politics2 (2): 259-79.
32.
Tarrow, Sidney.2007. Inside insurgencies: Politics and violence in an age of civil war. Perspectives on Politics5 (4): 587-600.
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35.
Weidmann, Nils.2009. Geography as motivation and opportunity: Group concentration and ethnic conflict. Journal of Conflict Resolution53:526-543.
36.
Weinstein, Jeremy.2006. Inside rebellion: The politics of insurgent violence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
37.
Wimmer, Andreas, and Brian Min.2006. From empire to nation-state: Explaining wars in the modern world, 1816-2001. American Sociological Review71 (4): 867-97.
38.
Wood, Elizabeth J.2003. Insurgent collective action and civil war in El Salvador . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
39.
Zürcher, Christoph.2007. The post-Soviet wars: Rebellion, ethnic conflict, and nationhood in the Caucasus. New York: New York University Press.
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