Introduction

Abstract The introduction to How to Prevent Civil War Recurrence: Learning from Failure outlines the rationale for our study. First, we present the epistemological debates between studies adopting case-based (qualitative) approaches and studies adopting variance-based (quantitative) approaches; and the ontological debates between studies that present peace processes as linear transitions out of violence and perspectives that underscore the cyclical patterns of advance and stalemate characterizing war-to-peace transitions. Second, we present our core research question: ‘How to prevent the resumption of large-scale conflict-related violence after a peace agreement?’, as well as our three sub-questions: ‘What explains the end of large-scale conflict-related violence in peace processes that experienced conflict recurrence in the past?’, ‘Do the same factors also prevent civil war recurrence in general?’, ‘How and why can these factors help prevent civil war recurrence?’. Third, we summarize the novel Multi-Stage Mixed Methods Framework and its application in this study. Finally, we outline the structure of the book and summarize the arguments developed in the following chapters. In doing so, we outline our original conceptual, methodological, empirical, and policy contributions to the field of conflict and peace studies.