Hello friends I hope you all are doing well,
Dear Seniors, I am a PhD aspirant in Civil Wars Studies and new to this area.
I request experienced scholars in the field to please suggest me some good books/articles readings for understanding the basics in the area.
Any suggestion about good articles/books on the Research Methods in Civil Wars studies would also be welcomed.
Thanks
What I know is that such studies are informative when using qualitative approaches to explore your research ground.
Are you approaching the issues of civil war from a military or civilian perspective (or perhaps both). The impact of civil war often depends on when it occurs and the technologies available to the protagonist. The British Civil Wars (17th century) are very different to the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) even though they happened on the same continent. Carpet bombing of cities by the Condor Legion in Spain made the experience very different for civilians.
Sounds like a stimulating research project but believe you need to tighten up the parameters of the proposal so as to make it both viable and useful. Period, place, technology and participants need to be carefully defined
Paul Colliers 2 volume work
‘Understanding Civil Wars: Evidence and Analysis
mightbe a useful starting point to shape your study
This is an excellent primer that will allow you to see the big picture of the American Civil War, although some scholars differ with his assessment of Lincoln's motives for entering the Civil War. It's a fascinating read. If you want to start somewhere, I would start here, then reach much deeper into other more scholarly works. Not that this isn't scholarly, but he's such a good writer, that it reads like fiction, in many ways. Battle Cry of Freedom, by James McPherson. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era More information: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08KYNVJ6C/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_4XWCGXDD9FDM559VHR2K
If you are coming from an international relations perspective, I strongly recommend you look at Barbara Walter's work. I have not read her new book but her prior work is very, very good. Indeed, I used it extensively in my doctoral work on Bosnia's civil war and the post-peacebuilding efforts that followed in the late 1990s/early 2000s.
One of the reasons I recommend her work is that she combines both qualitative and quantitative methodologies in her research. I recommend you become acquainted with her earlier work because of the way she used both approaches to build an elegant theory of why civil wars are difficult to settle. Her book, Committing to Peace: The Successful Settlement of Civil Wars (Princeton University Press, 2002) is informed by a large N study, but it is complemented by case study research. The research that informed this book was published in several academic journals so you can get a shorter version of her argument
My work back then was driven by qualitative methodologies and that is OK. But I do believe that at large N study can help you pinpoint important trends in the literature and then you can use case studies to test some of these assumptions. Your work can uncover new issues that scholars that do quantitive studies may have to think about or you can support some of these grand theories. Either way, I encourage you to look at Walter's work to get a sense of how to do this.
I echo Stuart B Jennings's recommendation as well. Paul Collier's work is a must-read.
Good luck! The process of starting a new project is always exciting.
Thanks everyone for giving advice and suggestions about books.
Bundle of Thanks Seniors for your kind suggestions
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