Why do some rebel insurgencies target cities as economic prey, whilst others are content to trade with them? This volume examines how the trade networks underpinning the economic relationship between rural and urban areas differ in their impact on (and response to) the combat frontier. The form and function of armed conflict is changing in the twenty-first century. So too are explanations of how wars start, why they endure, and what makes them end. Topher McDougal is in the vanguard of a new generation of economists committed to explaining the drivers of these so-called new wars. In The Political Economy of Rural-Urban Conflict, McDougal takes readers beyond the greed and grievance debates that dominated the 1990s and 2000s. In his rivetting new book he explains how violent predation in settings as diverse as West Africa and South Asia are a function of trade networks at the core and periphery of city systems. This is essential reading for scholars and practitioners alike.