New incentives and old organizations: The production of violence after war

Abstract: The immediate aftermath of an armed conflict is a key window of opportunity to build sustainable peace and security. Whether and how violence arises during that time has profound effects on a country’s political and economic development. Yet, defining and conceptualizing post-conflict violence has remained elusive. This paper contributes to a more comprehensive theory of postconflict violence with a theory-grounded typology, which classifies different postwar violent scenarios and shows that specific logics drive different types of violence in different settings. The axes, on which I build this typology, are: strategic aims (predatory, constructive) and organization (directed, coordinated, spontaneous). This classification is the first step toward a more rigorous understanding of post-conflict violence. Post-conflict violence emerges as a combination of new political incentives and opportunities from the war legacy. The premise of this theoretical effort is that with a more solid grasp of the mechanisms driving post-conflict violence and its variation we can design more suitable policies to lower its incidence. Ultimately, this analytical framework can illuminate the growing practice of international interventions in post-conflict settings.