In Living by the Gun in Chad: Combatants, Impunity and State Formation Marielle Debos offers an illuminating analysis of the construction of the Chadian state and it`s militarized economy, highlighting the neglect of human development in a state where the civilian persona is absent at both the political and economic stage. Debos cleverly challenge our understanding of war and peace as opposing poles showing us that the history of Chad cannot be seen as peaceful periods abrupted by outbursts of violent conflict. Debos instead depicts a society ravaged by both periods of civil-war and what she refers to as inter-war phases. Violence in Chad does not cease to exist; rather the inter-war is a period of simmering violence, fear and threats of violence, and fluid alliances. The violence in Chad is perpetrated by a vast cast of politico-military entrepreneurs attempting to stake their claim in the economy. This almost neo-feudal system is fed by a combination of natural resource extraction in combination with international assistance. Together this creates an economy where domestic revenue mobilization for the benefit of the people becomes obsolete. The Chadian economy is therefore a type that promotes what Debos call the professionalization of violence and dynamic ‘rent-seeking’ rebellions. Consequently, violence becomes the vehicle for social mobility. Rather than as a last resort, in Chad, men – and a few women – seize the gun as a form of occupation, with fighters in flux between their role as ‘reintegrated’ and active combatants. This has created a political economy steeped in violence and a political marketplace where one’s value is determined by your military relevance. Thus, the greater threat to the regime one represents, the more rents can be demanded in exchange of loyalty. As the title of Debos` book goes, the participants in the political marketplace of Chad ‘live by the gun’, and ‘die by the gun’ as became the fate of late president Déby.