ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses post-confl ict reform from a historical perspective, moving beyond a dichotomous distinction between confl ict and peace in order to focus instead on the transformation of concatenated forms of armed disorder in the aftermath of violent confl ict. As an alternative to the conventional emphasis on path dependence and critical junctures at the macro level, this chapter focuses on competing models for the organization of armed force as well as their transformation over time. The following sections provide empirical evidence from large-scale reforms that attempted to transform the organization of armed force in nineteenth-century Mexico, as a point of departure from which to probe the counterintuitive mix of continuity and discontinuity that accompanies transitions between periods of confl ict and reform (from violent confl ict to ‘armed disorder’). On this basis, I stress two sets of mechanisms shaping post-confl ict settings: (1) institutional learning and emulation, and (2) ad hoc adaptation and improvisation.
