Some of the most brutal and long lasting civil wars of our time involve the rapid formation and disintegration of alliances among warring groups as well as fractionalization within them it would be natural to suppose that warring groups form alliances based on shared identity considerations such as christian groups allying with christian groups but this is not what we see two groups that identify themselves as bitter foes one day on the basis of some identity narrative might be . This dissertation attempts to enhance our understanding of civil war processes through a closer look at alliance formation civil war alliances prove to be tactical motivated by a concern with victory and the maximization of wartime returns noting that groups rapidly and seemingly incessantly change partners i find that no identity principles ethnic ideological or otherwise generate stable cleavages in principle all groups want to be in a coalition large enough to attain victory . Some of the most brutal and long lasting civil wars of our time those in afghanistan bosnia lebanon and iraq among others involve the rapid formation and disintegration of alliances among warring groups as well as fractionalization within them it would be natural to suppose that warring groups form alliances based on shared identity considerations such as christian groups . Alliance formation in civil wars fotini christia massachusetts institute of technology cambridge university press c contents figures page ix tables x maps xii acknowledgments xiii introduction 1 part i context and theory 1 literature and research design 19 2 a theory of warring group alliances and fractionalization in multiparty civil wars 32 part ii afghanistan 3 the afghan intra mujahedin