For decades, intrastate conflicts have accounted for the majority of armed conflicts worldwide, and many of these conflicts are wars that have broken out again. The question of how to achieve lasting peace after civil wars is therefore a central issue in peace research.
In his recently published book “Sustaining Peace After Civil War”, Thorsten Gromes examines 48 civil wars that were ended between 1990 and 2009. The study focuses primarily on how military power is distributed during and after civil wars and to what extent the parties to the conflict were able to implement their political demands. Stable peace is less likely if the military balance of power between the parties to the conflict deviates significantly from the distribution of political advantages.
Another finding of the study is that peace agreements are at least as effective as military victories in ensuring stable peace. In contrast, after mere ceasefires, the conflict is more likely to flare up again.
The study makes an important contribution to civil war research. In addition, the findings have high practical relevance for peacebuilding and peacekeeping missions.
The monograph is based on Thorsten Gromes' habilitation thesis, which was reviewed by Christopher Daase and Jonas Wolff (both Goethe University Frankfurt/PRIF) and Thorsten Bonacker (Philipps University Marburg). The habilitation thesis was written as part of a project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The book was published in December 2025 in the series “Studien des Leibniz-Instituts für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung” by Springer VS.