Comparing armed conflicts primes the production of categories that, when mobilized, can alter the trajectories of the conflicts. Considering the political dynamism of spaces of conflict and intervention, and that practitioners regularly seek out academic expertise, this book discusses the possibilities and limits of comparative approaches to understanding armed conflict and intervention.

The importance of context when comparing civil wars --Comparing conflict-related sexual violence : expertise, politics and documentation -- Fanning the flames or troubling truth? The politics of comparison in the Israel-Palestine Conflict -- Privileges sphere of comparison : empire, methods and conflict intervention -- The Middle East is violence : on the limits of comparative approaches to the study of armed conflict -- Normative scaling and crisis knowledge : the problematic use of selective analogies to compare conflicts -- Sahelistan? Military intervention and patronage politics in Afghanistan and Mali.