It is a given in most quarters that that the marginalization of ethnic groups from the corridors of state power is a primary cause of rebellion, particularly in poor countries with weak government control in rural areas open to rebel organizing. Rebellions, however, often emerge among groups that have a share of state power and fail to gain traction among groups that are excluded from power. This observation is at the heart of Janet Lewis’s exploration of the earliest stage of rebellion in Uganda, host to 16 rebel groups that Lewis identifies since the current government fought its way to power in 1986. Through extensive field research, including interviews with many directly involved in forming rebel groups and fighting them, Lewis is well positioned to explain why rebel groups succeed or fail in their earliest stages. How Insurgency Begins offers insights that will be valuable to anyone who is interested in rebellion in poor and politically-divided states.

A great deal of research on the micro-politics of conflict highlights rebel leaders who are adept at articulating existing grievances about ethnic or other marginalization. Lewis rejects this concept of a nascent “pre-rebellion.” She finds instead that Uganda’s rebel groups, like those in other poor countries, begin as