'This is an important book on the causes of violent conflict and its remedies by one of the world's foremost scholars on the topic. In writing it for a wide audience, Rohner has succeeded in giving a lucid account of the complex research quest for robust results. Past public policy errors have much to answer for: the lives of millions of poor people have been blighted due to naivety and negligence. Governments, and the voters who elected them, both need to read it.' Paul Collier, Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Oxford University, and author of Left Behind: A New Economics for Neglected Places