Nearly half of all countries emerging from conflict relapse into war within a few years of signing a peace agreement. The post-war trajectories of armed groups vary from demilitarization to remilitarisation.  In Organized Violence after Civil War, Daly analyzes evidence from 37 militia groups in Colombia, demonstrating that the primary driving force behind these changes is the variation in recruitment patterns within, and between, the warring groups after peace accords. She documents the transition from war to peace in interviews with militia commanders, combatants and victims. Using rich ex-combatant survey data and geo-coded information on violence over forty years of war, Daly explains the dynamics inside armed organizations and the strategic interactions between them. She also shows how these theories can be used beyond Colombia, both within the region of Latin America and in the rest of the world.

Sarah Zukerman Daly joined the University of Notre Dame faculty in 2013 as Assistant Professor in Political Science after receiving her Ph.D. in the subject from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her doctoral dissertation received the 2011 Lucian Pye Award for the Best Dissertation in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research interests lie in the fields of civil war, peace processes, international security, and ethnic politics with a regional focus on Latin America. Daly has served as a fellow in the Political Science Department and at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, California, at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University, New York, and at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, Massachusetts.

1. Introduction - a farewell to arms?; 2. Theory of the postwar trajectories of armed organizations; 3. Violence and peace in Colombia; 4. Geography of recruitment and postwar organizational capacity; 5. Strategic interactions between armed groups and remilitarization; 6. The path to demilitarization: configuration of local militias in Antioquia; 7. Remilitarization, strong and weak: local and non-local militias in Catatumbo and Urabá/Córdoba; 8. Beyond Colombia: transitions from war to peace in comparative perspective; 9. Conclusion.