The Centre for the Study of Civil War (CSCW) at PRIO is a long-term, multidisciplinary initiative that seeks to understand:
- why civil wars break out
- how they are sustained
- what it takes to end them.
CSCW is an autonomous centre within the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO), its host institution. The centre’s staff consists of PRIO researchers and scholars from other institutions, in addition to graduate students.
CSCW’s work is organised into seven Working Groups, each taking a different analytical approach to the main research questions. The methodological toolkit includes game theory, micro- and macroeconomics, quantitative statistical analysis, comparative case studies and historical source criticism. The work of all groups, and of the centre as a whole, has an iterative dynamic, going from theory-building to empirical case materials and back again.
The CSCW website includes links to publications, research, datasets, information about the staff, and news.