From Indonesia to Sierra Leone, civil war has massively disrupted existing economic and social structures. These countries are but two of the many across the world that are besieged with such problems, and this latest working paper from the Global and Economy Development Group within the Brookings Institution provides some detailed information on the relationship between poverty and civil war specifically designed for policymakers. Authored by Susan E. Rice, Corinne Graff, and Janet Lewis, this 30-page paper explains some of the reasons that poor countries are at increased risk of becoming embroiled by civil war and related conflicts. Some of these reasons include the fact that education levels tend to be low in poor countries and these countries also tend to be natural resource dependent, a relationship that the authors observe would benefit from additional research.