Violent conflict and its aftermath are pressing problems for international development. However, the results of development in conflict contexts have generally been disappointing and their preventative potential thus questionable. Lives After Violence argues that this is due to development practitioners adhering to an outdated and ineffective paradigm, which emphasises statebuilding, stabilisation and service delivery.

Through detailed analysis of ten years of case studies and quantitative survey results from conflict-affected countries (Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nepal, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Uganda), this book offers original and generalisable conclusions about how lives in conflict work and upends the status quo of development practice in conflict settings by offering a set of new paradigms. These include the need to pay attention to the long-term effects of conflict on individual behaviour and decision-making, the social realities of economic life, the link between relationships and capacity and the role service delivery plays in negotiating the relationship between citizens and states in the aftermath of conflict. The book concludes with practical recommendations on how to apply and practice these new paradigms.