Ordering Violence

Ordering Violence is an ambitious book that is theoretically sophisticated, empirically rich, and remarkable in the honesty with which it tackles the challenges of data collection and analysis. This book is a must-read for all students and scholars of political violence.

* Perspectives on Politics *

A remarkable example of both a thoughtful and innovative conceptual contribution and a rich theoretical argument that is rigorously tested using a mixed-method empirical approach. We commend Staniland on this substantial contribution to our substantive understanding of an important topic and expect that this book will serve as a prime methodological example for the field moving forward.

* American Political Science Association *

The book provides a novel theoretical framework to explain much of the behaviour of states against different types of armed groups in South Asia, and masterfully combines qualitative data for the case studies with the quantitative analysis of the Armed Orders in South Asia dataset

* The University of British Columbia *

Paul Staniland's remarkable book takes steps to unpack the complex relations between states and nonstate armed groups, which can take diverse forms and have very different implications for governance, state building, and violence.

* Political Science Quarterly *

Ordering Violence will stand as an anchor work in the increasingly complex and compelling political science literature on civil wars and armed conflict. Staniland's central insight-that there is more to war than fighting-has deep implications for how to understand the relationships between states and those that they fight, or, in many cases, make deals with.

* e-International relations *