Tools of War, Tools of State

Robert Tynes is Associate Director of Research and Site Director for the Bard Prison Initiative at Bard College.

"…Tools of War, Tools of State provides a comprehensive analysis of the ways in which children become participants in conflict. For those unfamiliar with the topic, this book is an excellent overview of the complexities surrounding the determinants of child soldier use. For scholars and researchers, it inspires and demands future research continue to examine and evaluate the tools available to combat child soldiering globally." — African Studies Quarterly"The author has spent much time researching the use of child soldiers in various conflicts and the data used will be of special interest to those who[se] work lies in a wider geo‐political awareness than that referring just to Africa … His extensive bibliography will be invaluable to others who become interested in just how, why, where, etc. the innocence of the young was transformed into a calculated and hideous killer." — Journal of Sierra Leone Studies"Robert Tynes has written the most comprehensive and thorough explanation to date of how and why children become involved in war. Examining the problem from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives, he does a superb job of showing the ways in which children are exploited by states and nonstate actors to carry out the most heinous forms of political violence." — Mia Bloom, author of Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror and Bombshell: Women and Terrorism"Tools of War, Tools of State explores the often overlooked but extremely important issue of the use of child soldiers, shedding light on why insurgents are motivated to bring children into their ranks, give them guns, and put them on the battlefield." — Victor Asal, author of Legal Path Dependence and the Long Arm of the Religious State: Sodomy Provisions and Gay Rights across Nations and over Time"Robert Tynes makes an important contribution to one of the most critical humanitarian issues of our time: the use of child soldiers in combat. He does a masterful job examining why both governments and rebel groups choose to use child soldiers and exploring his innovative argument using a range of methods from ethnographic interviews and case studies to network and regression analyses. The book will be of interest to academics, students, and policy professionals." — David L. Rousseau, author of Democracy and War: Institutions, Norms, and the Evolution of International Conflict

• List of Diagrams and TablesAcknowledgments 1. Why Use Children in War 2. A Shifting Norm 3. The Spread of a Tactic 4. A Global View of Tactical Need 5. Ground-Level Dynamics and the Case of Sierra Leone 6. Tools of State-Building 7. Strategies of Prevention, Compellence, and Protection NotesBibliographyIndex