Micro level impacts of conflict and the duration of armed groups Political instability and political violence have been a major hindrance for development in developing and transition countries. Development and progress for countries is hard to achieve under the presence of armed conflict as it can not only cause death and destruction but also deeply affect political and societal institutions. This dissertation investigates two very different impacts of conflict and the duration of groups responsible for political violence. The first chapter analyses the impact of civil conflict on domestic violence in Colombia and taking advantage of the uneven spatia...