During 'Forskningsdagene' (The National Science Week), the CSCW invites you to a seminar on the phenomenon of Civil War. Professor James Fearon will give a lecture, followed by a discussion. The seminar will focus on the causes of civil war, and peacebuilding measures likely to succeed. If you want to take part in the seminar, please register with seminar@prio.no.

Chair: Nils Petter Gleditsch
Discussant: Scott Gates

Venue: PRIO, Fuglehauggt. 11

James Fearon's abstract for the lecture:
The remarkable spread of persistent civil war in the poorest countries of the world has had little to do with ethnic demographics, religious hatreds, economic inequality, dependence on primary commodity exports, or even absence of political rights. Instead, it mainly reflects the success of a set of military techniques - rural guerrilla warfare - in countries whose state administrative and police capabilities are weak and underdeveloped. Peacekeeping operations to civil war-torn countries with low state capabilities will fail unless "peacekeeping" becomes successful state building. The relevant major powers and international institutions have not come to grips with this problem, and the current system does not provide adequate resources for peacekeeping operations. Since, in many countries, peacekeeping and state building are prerequisites for economic development, development aid should be allowed to flow to peacekeeping operations in the form of loans to be repaid as the country's economy recovers. James Fearon is one of the leading younger scholars within US political science.