Quagmire in Civil War

Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-1-108-48676-7
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 340 Seiten, Format (B × H): 163 mm x 231 mm, Gewicht: 635 g

Our understanding of civil war is shot through with the spectre of quagmire, a situation that traps belligerents, compounding and entrenching war's dangers. Despite the subject's importance, its causes are obscure. A pervasive 'folk' notion that quagmire is intrinsic to certain countries or wars has foreclosed inquiry, and scholarship has failed to identify quagmire as an object of study in its own right. Schulhofer-Wohl provides the first treatment of quagmire in civil war. In a rigorous but accessible analysis, he explains how quagmire can emerge from domestic-international interactions and strategic choices. To support the argument, Schulhofer-Wohl draws upon field research on Lebanon's sixteen-year civil war, structured comparisons with civil wars in Chad and Yemen, and rigorous statistical analyses of all civil wars worldwide fought between 1944 and 2006. The results make clear that the 'folk' notion misdiagnoses quagmire and demand that we revisit policies that rest upon it. Schulhofer-Wohl demonstrates that quagmire is made, not found.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Schulhofer-Wohl, Jonah

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Geopolitik
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Internationale Organisationen und Institutionen
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Militärwesen Zivil- und Katastrophenschutz

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction; 2. A theory of quagmire; 3. The Lebanese civil war, 1975–1990: issues, actors, turning points, explanations; 4. Mechanisms of quagmire in Lebanon; 5. Civil wars worldwide, 1944–2006; 6. Comparative evidence from Chad and Yemen; 7. A field guide to quagmire.

Über Autor(innen)

Schulhofer-Wohl, Jonah
Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Universiteit Leiden. He has held fellowships at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, New Jersey. Schulhofer-Wohl's research has been supported by the Social Science Research Council, the National Science Foundation, the Orient-Institut Beirut, and the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation.