How conflict networks fuel and finish civil wars

This dissertation seeks to answer the question of why rebel groups choose to continue fighting civil wars or seek respite through negotiations or peace agreements. I argue that conflict networks provide fighting factions with both the capacity and the incentive to continue fighting by creating external access channels to necessary and desirable goods. As this access fluctuates, so too does a group's capacity and desire to fight the war. I conduct six case studies of rebel groups involved in the wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ivory Coast. Analysis of the conflict networks developed and maintained by these groups, and how fluctuations in these networks affected the ability and incentive of the group to continue fighting, provides ample evidence to support the theory that conflict networks fuel civil wars and that eliminating these networks is an essential element to conflict resolution.