Examining civil wars from 1816 to today, CQ Press launches A Guide to Intra-state Wars

While the practice of war has been a feature of humankind for millennia, very few understand the phenomenon through systematic analysis, especially when it comes to organized warfare within states. Launching today, A Guide to Intra-state Wars: An Examination of Civil, Regional, and Intercommunal Wars, 1816–2014 uses data to illustrate how civil war is defined, as well as how the number, severity, location, and participation in intra-state warfare have changed through nearly 300 civil wars.

Combining a systematic study of war with trends by time and region, the text includes data and analyses from the Correlates of War Project (COW), which fosters the systematic accumulation of scientific knowledge about war.

“COW has evolved, expanded, and diversified; however, the fundamental philosophy of the application of scientific methods via the systematic testing of quantitative data on political, social, and economic factors related to war and peace remains the backbone of the project,” editors Jeffrey S. Dixon and Meredith Reid Sarkees write. “The current volume focuses on various types of war within states, thus adding an important layer of data to the existing compilations of war data collected by the Correlates of War project.”

A Guide to Intra-state Wars is a resource for political scientists and any social scientists interested in economic, social, political, and cultural evolution. It includes a discussion of the different types of actors in international relations, including data on non-state participants, or rebels, and presents data from the Nations, States and Entities dataset.

“This book emerges out of an intellectual passion that rests on the belief that understanding of problems is an essential stage in attempts at finding solutions,” the editors note. “The study of war—at least within the COW tradition—is closely related to the study of peace. It is not only my hope, but my firm belief that this book will contribute to our ability to devise strategies to increase peace and stability in societies that have or are experiencing internal war. Moreover, the study of intra-state wars that relies on the data provided by this book may well help improve the quality of life, human rights practices, justice, and equality in these societies.”

The book is published by CQ Press, an imprint of SAGE and a leading publisher of books, reference content, periodicals, and digital products on government, public policy and international affairs. For more information, click here.

A FREE 30-day online trial of SAGE Knowledge, including A Guide to Intra-state Wars: An Examination of Civil, Regional, and Intercommunal Wars, 1816–2014, is available by emailing librarysales@sagepub.com.

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 A Guide to Intra-state Wars: An Examination of Civil, Regional, and Intercommunal Wars

October 2015                            816 pages

ISBN: 978-0-8728-9775-5            Print Price: $175.00

eISBN: 978-1-4522-3420-5

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SAGE Founded 50 years ago by Sara Miller McCune to support the dissemination of usable knowledge and educate a global community, SAGE publishes more than 850 journals and over 800 new books each year, spanning a wide range of subject areas. A growing selection of library products includes archives, data and video. SAGE remains majority owned by our founder and after her lifetime will become owned by a charitable trust that secures the company’s continued independence. Principal offices are located in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. www.sagepub.com

CQ Press, an imprint of SAGE, is a leading publisher of books, reference content, periodicals, and digital products on American government, public policy, and international affairs. Known for its objectivity and breadth and depth of coverage, CQ Press consistently ranks among the top academic and professional publishers for its high-quality content and scholarship. CQ Press was founded with the mission of promoting democracy through education and joined the SAGE family in 2008. www.cqpress.com