Civil Wars

We analyze the root causes, dynamics, and impacts of civil wars, using research and historical precedent to devise effective strategies for prevention, mediation, and post-conflict reconstruction.

The Latest

Demonstrators chant pro-Islamic State group slogans as they wave the group's flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, June 16, 2014.

Article

Knowing What Not to Know About Islamic State: Terrorism Studies and Public Secrecy

Summer 2025 by Sarah G. Phillips and Daniel J. Tower

From International Security Program

Article

Monks Behaving Badly: Explaining Buddhist Violence in Asia

Spring 2025 by Nilay Saiya and Stuti Manchanda
Event Summary

Sketching a Framework for Syria’s Future

May. 6, 2025 by Sendus Majanni
Article

What We Don't See: Uncovering Intercommunal Violence Through Remote Sensing

January 2025 by Mikael Naghizadeh

381 results

Knowing What Not to Know About Islamic State: Terrorism Studies and Public Secrecy

Summer 2025 by Sarah G. Phillips and Daniel J. Tower

Article

from International Security

Monks Behaving Badly: Explaining Buddhist Violence in Asia

Spring 2025 by Nilay Saiya and Stuti Manchanda

Article

from International Security

In this Friday, Jan. 16, 2015 file photo, Myanmar Buddhist monks shout slogans as they march to protest against a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly calling on Myanmar to grant citizenship to Rohingya in Yangon, Myanmar.

Sketching a Framework for Syria’s Future

May. 6, 2025 by Sendus Majanni

Event Summary

from Middle East Initiative, Belfer Center

What We Don't See: Uncovering Intercommunal Violence Through Remote Sensing

January 2025 by Mikael Naghizadeh

Article

from Political Geography

Visual evidence of significant structural destruction in town in the Konso Zone captured.

How Do the Events in Syria Affect Russia?

Dec. 11, 2024 by Natia Gamkrelidze and Neil MacFarlane

Article

from Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Russian warships sail during the Ocean-2024 strategic command and staff exercises

Foreign Intervention and Internal Displacement: Urban Politics in Postwar Beirut

Winter 2023/24 by Amanda Rizkallah

Article

from International Security

Hezbollah supporters distribute sweets to passersby, as they celebrate the fall of the Syrian town of Qusair to forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and Hezbollah fighters, in Bazzalieh village, Lebanon, near the Lebanese-Syrian border, Wednesday, June 5, 2013.

Reining in Rebellion: The Decline of Political Violence in South America, 1830–1929

Winter 2023/24 by Raúl L. Madrid and Luis L. Schenoni

Article

from International Security

Bolivian soldiers, dressed in costumes to look like Chilean soldiers, walk during the reenactment of the battle of "Canchas Blancas," which took place in 1879 during the Pacific War that Bolivia lost to Chile. Wednesday, March 28, 2018.

Correspondence: Debating U.S. Security Assistance

Winter 2023/24 by Christopher Darnton and Rachel Tecott Metz

Article

from International Security