Farewell to Arms

Every once in a long while, experts will read a book they find utterly revelatory on their own topic. Rumela Sen's Farewell to Arms is one of those rare books. The realization that it can often be more dangerous for a rebel to quit fighting and go back to his village shines a whole new light on the insurgency trap. Sen's up-close feel for the social texture of rebellion demonstrates that powerful theory comes from really knowing the lay of the land. -- Jack Snyder, Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Relations, Columbia University Rumela Sen offers a novel, careful, and important study of how rebels leave insurgent groups. This is a crucial but under-studied question; Sen valuably answers it with a blend of new theory and fascinating evidence from Maoist insurgency in India. -- Paul Staniland, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago A lot is known about why people rebel, but little is understood about how rebels quit. Under what circumstances do they feel sufficiently confident about their personal safety to be able to retire from armed struggle and return to everyday life? Sen's fine work provides an answer to this question - an important one for policy - based on scrupulous analysis of data drawn from years of field research in areas of North and South India that have had contrasting experiences. The book is an outstanding original contribution to the literature on insurgency. -- John Harriss, Emeritus Professor of International Studies, Simon Fraser University