Attempts to resolve why self-determination disputes between governments and ethnic minorities so often result in civil war.

Barbara F. Walter is Professor of Political Science in the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego. She is the author of Committing to Peace: The Successful Settlement of Civil Wars (2001), and co-editor of Territoriality and Conflict in an Era of Globalization (Cambridge, 2006) and Civil Wars, Insecurity and Intervention (1999).

Figures; Tables; Maps; Part I. Theory: 1. Introduction; 2. Reputation building and self-determination movements; Part II. Empirical tests: 3. An experimental study of reputation building and deterrence; 4. Government responses to self-determination movements; 5. Ethnic groups and the decision to seek self-determination; Part III. Case studies: 6. Indonesia: many ethnic groups, few demands; 7. The Philippines: few ethnic groups, many demands; Part IV. Conclusions: 8. Reputation building and deterrence in civil wars.