View the Table of Contents
Read the Introduction

aWith his exciting narratives and compelling analysis of the twentieth century's aCaucasian Wars, a Zurcher brings events on the periphery of Europe into the mainstream of social science and comparative politics. Disputing existing explanations of internal wars, he shows that rather than mountainous terrain or poverty, a more powerful causal explanation of civil bloodletting can be located in state capacities and the abilities of combatants to finance their struggles. This book is sure to stir debate.a
--Ronald Grigor Suny, University of Michigan

aDemocracy is commonly paired with order while ethnic violence is paired with strife and chaos. The Post-Soviet Wars painstakingly documents that both violence and stability have institutional reasons and must be organized politically by specific human agencies. This lesson is obviously relevant to the contemporary discussion of democratization as well as afailinga states, let alone the effects wrought by the American war on terror.a
--Georgi Derlugyan, author of "Bourdieu's Secret Admirer in the Caucasus: A World-System Biography"

The Post-Soviet Wars is a comparative account of the organized violence in the Caucusus region, looking at four key areas: Chechnya, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Dagestan. Zurcheras goal is to understand the origin and nature of the violence in these regions, the response and suppression from the post-Soviet regime and the resulting outcomes, all with an eye toward understanding why some conflicts turned violent, whereas others not. Notably, in Dagestan actual violent conflict has not erupted, an exception of political stability for theregion. The book provides a brief history of the region, particularly the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resulting changes that took place in the wake of this toppling. Zurcher carefully looks at the conditions within each region -- economic, ethnic, religious, and political -- to make sense of why some turned to violent conflict and some did not and what the future of the region might portend.

This important volume provides both an overview of the region that is both up-to-date and comprehensive as well as an accessible understanding of the current scholarship on mobilization and violence.

A brief history of the Caucusus region during and after the Post-Soviet Wars The Post-Soviet Wars is a comparative account of the organized violence in the Caucusus region, looking at four key areas: Chechnya, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Dagestan. Zurcher's goal is to understand the origin and nature of the violence in these regions, the response and suppression from the post-Soviet regime and the resulting outcomes, all with an eye toward understanding why some conflicts turned violent, whereas others not. Notably, in Dagestan actual violent conflict has not erupted, an exception of political stability for the region. The book provides a brief history of the region, particularly the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resulting changes that took place in the wake of this toppling. Zurcher carefully looks at the conditions within each region-economic, ethnic, religious, and political-to make sense of why some turned to violent conflict and some did not and what the future of the region might portend. This important volume provides both an overview of the region that is both up-to-date and comprehensive as well as an accessible understanding of the current scholarship on mobilization and violence.

Sicherheit, Demokratie, Wiederaufbau, Rechtstaat - all das erhoffen sich Menschen von Interventionen. Seit dem Kalten Krieg kommen humanitare Interventionen haufig vor. Sie verandern die gesellschaftlichen Entwicklungen in den Ziellandern erheblich, doch oft koennen die Politik und Militarstrategie diese sozialen Verschiebungen nur schwer begreifen. Dann wird es aber schwieriger, friedensschaffende und stabilisierende Massnahmen umzusetzen. Die Soziologie dieser Gesellschaften konzentriert sich auf die Beziehungen zwischen den Intervenierenden und denen, die von den Interventionen betroffen sind, den "Intervenierten". Im Zentrum der UEberlegungen stehen vor allem die neue Kultur und die Interaktionsformen, die sich zwischen beiden Gruppen entwickeln, sowie die gesellschaftliche Dynamik, die von der Intervention und dem anschliessenden Wiederaufbau ausgeloest wird. Auch werden die Ruckwirkungen der Intervention auf die Intervenierenden, d.h. vor allem auf die westlichen Gesellschaften, untersucht.

Peacebuilding is an interactive process that involves collaboration between peacebuilders and the victorious elites of a postwar society. While one of the most prominent assumptions of the peacebuilding literature asserts that the interests of domestic elites and peacebuilders coincide, "Costly Democracy" contends that they rarely align.
It reveals that, while domestic elites in postwar societies may desire the resources that peacebuilders can bring, they are often less eager to adopt democracy, believing that democratic reforms may endanger their substantive interests. The book offers comparative analyses of recent cases of peacebuilding to deepen understanding of postwar democratization and better explain why peacebuilding missions often bring peace--but seldom democracy--to war-torn countries.