This is a critical investigation of the stalled and dysfunctional peace that often follows civil wars and an examination of how peace processes and peace accords can be revived.The author is a well-known and established writer in the field. Post-conflict reconstruction is topical and Iraq is a huge test-case. This book poses serious questions about the quality of peace experienced in post-peace accord societies. It adopts a critical perspective on peacemaking. It unpacks the notion of the 'liberal democratic peace' as the key organizing principle behind internationally supported peace processes and accords.This book investigates stalled and dysfunctional peace processes and peace accords in societies experiencing civil wars. Using a critical and comparative perspective, it offers strategies for rejuvenating and re-orientating stalled peace processes and peace accords so that they are more able to foster sustainable and inclusive peace.á

"'Mac Ginty's question - why do so many peace processes fail? - is the right one to ask. His analysis and prescriptions about necessary changes in peacemaking are likely to make a very significant impact on the discussion on peace processes.' - Professor John Darby, Kroc Institute for International Peace, University of Notre Dame, USA 'This is a very well-informed seminal, sceptical monography which asks why 'peace' is so elusive? Its timely revisionist treatise constitutes competition for Mark Duffield, Will Reno and Co!' - Professor Tim Shaw, Director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, UK '[T]his is the first book of importance which attempts to situate the practices of 'peace' within a critical and comparative perspective. The author pulls few punches. Peace - he argues - rarely delivers on what it promises. And it is hardly ever about reconciliation. This is the tough, welcome, and necessary message delivered by Roger Mac Ginty in this path-breaking book. An indispensable volume that is bound to shape all future discussion on the subject.' - Professor Michael Cox, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK '[A] major addition to a field that has attracted much recent public and specialist attention - that of what happens after the guns fall silent...The book will be of great interest to those interested in post-conflict violence. Mac Ginty brings a much needed perspective that is both ethically sound and also eminently pragmatic.' - Professor Andrew Williams, University of Kent, UK"á

ROGER MAC GINTY is a Lecturer in the Department of Politics and the Post-war Reconstruction and Development Unit at the University of York, UK. He has published extensively on ethnonational conflict and its management.