Violence after War: Explaining Instability in Post-Conflict States, by Michael J. Boyle

Abstract

Reviewed by: Jeff Bridoux, Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University, UKIn explaining his concept of dual perspective, Antonio Gramsci states that power has two faces which are both necessary for the life of a state: 'two things are absolutely necessary for the life of a State: arms and religion ... force and consent, coercion and persuasion, State and Church, political society and civil society, politics and morals ... law and freedom, order and discipline ... violence and fraud.'[1]In Violence after War , Michael J. Boyle is squarely focused on the dark side of power and provides an insightful and comprehensive analysis of the reasons behind resurgence of violence in post-conflict societies. He begins by wondering why policymakers so often get it wrong when assessing the likelihood of a resurgence of violence in such environments. There are no simple answers. Boyle's main argument is that patterns of violence in post-conflict societies are multiple, varied, intricate, and hence complex: 'no single logic can explain all incidents of violence because of the sheer variety of actors and motives for violent action present in post-conflict states' (8). To tackle this complexity, Boyle positions his work within the literature that focuses on strategic violence as explanatory. Yet, he argues that it is necessary to adopt a more comprehensive definition of strategic violence 'in which multiple actors can engage in violent bargaining with each other for a diverse range of purposes' (9). Those purposes include the traditional contestation of a peace settlement or an intention to resume hostilities through high-profile acts of violence (e.g. terrorism, insurgency, etc.), as well as a range of non-macro-leverage motivations. Such motivations translate into low-intensity types of violence (e.g. assassination, reprisal, intimidation, etc.) whose cumulative effects can change the balance of power in the state. Boyle's objective is to develop a theoretical framework that allows for a multi-layered analysis of violence in post-conflict societies to explain the variations in levels of strategic violence.Boyle develops his conceptual framework in two stages. In chapter 2, he presents a typology that classifies acts of violence in three broad categories (expressive, instrumental, and strategic) and two categories of victims (individual and categorical) (31-32). While not covering for all possible types, this typology allows for the differentiation between violent acts susceptible to having a strategic impact on the peace process. To his credit, Boyle then engages in a fascinating discussion about the limits of studying political violence in an environment of limited information. His conceptual framework attempts to mitigate the inevitable methodological limitations through a clear identification of acts of violence, their motivations, and how political and criminal violence interact and potentially reinforce each other in threatening the newly established peace (32-44). Methodologically, Boyle suggests that it is possible to empirically detect strategic forms of violence that jeopardize the peace through 'contextual analysis of crime statistics and of existing narratives and first-hand accounts of the attacks' (45). Boyle then relies on two pathways to explain the emergence of strategic violence in post-conflict states: a direct pathway (the peace settlement is contested through violence similar to violence during the war) and an indirect pathway (strategic violence is the result of new fault lines due to political and organizational changes experienced by armed groups following a settlement). This differentiation is followed by a comprehensive discussion of the environments in which violence can resume. Here, Boyle defines post-conflict states and notes that conditions and characteristics vary from one post-conflict state to another. Nevertheless, there are common contextual characteristics that can be identified (52-55). …