Duffield's well-written book offers groundbreaking research in the emerging field created by the intersection of international security and international development...The book offers not only theoretical understanding of the problem but also good research to understand the problem in practice.

D. S. Reveron, CHOICE

What is needed is to move beyond the idea of war-as-breakdown towards a fundamental rethink about how local elites, ordinary people, and international governments are continuously adapting to war and to global economic change. This breathtaking tour-de-force from one of the leading thinkers in this field points the way forward

David Keen, author of The Benefits of Famine

Mark Duffield's book is a "must" for anyone grappling with the contemporary nature of war and humanitarianism. Taking us beyond the stilted confines of international policy to the politics of modern violence, the argument exposes the way talk of "complex political emergencies" fails to grasp the fundamental characteristics of "emergent political complexes". Duffield lays bare the failings of aid policy in this regard

Dr David Campbell, Professor of International Politics and Director, Centre for Transnational Studies, University of Newcastle