Sharing Power, Securing Peace?

Reviews / Votes

'This masterful analysis shows conclusively that much of the skepticism regarding power-sharing is misguided. While power-sharing does not offer any firm guarantees for peace and stability, inclusive practices at the center and territorially shared power clearly remain the most promising tools for solving and preventing serious ethnic and other conflicts. The book's conclusions are highly valuable for scholars and even more so for practical policy-makers.' Arend Lijphart, Research Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of California, San Diego 'Theoretically and methodologically ambitious, impressively global in scope, and covering both conflict and non-conflict contexts, Cederman, Hug and Wucherpfennig convincingly argue that power-sharing builds peace in multi-ethnic states. These findings should guide scholars and practitioners in how to promote inclusive governance.' Elisabeth King, co-author of Diversity, Violence, and Recognition: How Recognizing Ethnic Identity Promotes Peace 'As Fred Ikle's classic book states in its title, 'Every War Must End,' and most civil wars end with some form of power-sharing, formal or informal, between the state and its challengers. This landmark book by Cederman, Hug, and Wucherpfennig offers valuable new insights and a wealth of new empirical results on whether sharing power helps secure the peace in the aftermath of ethnic war. With attention to the usual methodological pitfalls in the analysis of observational data and conceptual innovations throughout their book, Cederman, Hug, and Wucherpfennig provide a strong argument for the peace-inducing effects of the practice - rather than merely the promise - of sharing political power, while also noting that power-sharing institutions are no panacea. This extraordinary book charts the way forward in the quantitative study of civil war.' Nicholas Sambanis, Professor of Political Science, The University of Pennsylvania 'There is little doubt that Cederman, Hug, and Wucherpfennig have written a landmark study in the power-sharing and conflict literature. The sheer volume of empirical evidence in the book is astonishing and sets the standard for cross-national research on civil war. Scholars, students, and policy makers interested in ethnic politics, war, and conflict resolution will all benefit from reading it - especially those inclined to skepticism of power sharing (as this reviewer was). I would also recommend the book to anybody working with observational evidence subject to selection issues, as the authors provide an exemplary model for rigorous and transparent analysis of cross-national data.' Philip A. Martin, Perspectives on Politics