Since its early beginnings peace and conflict research has focused on causes of phenomena such as civil war, terrorism, and state failure. The author merges this approach with a peace causes perspective and asks why civil war happened in Peru (1980-1995) though not in Bolivia, which is striking given the structural similarities with Peru as well as a number of escalation episodes leading the country to the brink of civil war (2000-2008). He explores the political measures such as reforms and political dialogue, which prevented the country from rather hazardous consequences.