Compromised Coalitions

Power sharing is the international community's preferred tool for ending civil wars — but its long-term consequences are poorly understood. In Compromised Coalitions, Alexander Noyes draws on years of fieldwork across sub-Saharan Africa to show how the bargains struck at the negotiating table reshape militaries, hollow out civilian institutions, and frequently entrench the very dynamics that produced conflict in the first place. Combining quantitative cross-national analysis with detailed case studies from Kenya, Zimbabwe, and beyond, the book asks whether power sharing buys peace at the price of democracy — and what mediators and policymakers can do about it.