. This must be financed and therefore revenue mobilisation , including some measure of political agreement on its incidence , is essential . aid can reduce the trade-offs and buy time, but if political actors delay action then they store up trouble for the future when aid to reconstruction tails off above all , revenue mobilisation must be used to achieve a recovery that is broad-based in its benefits and not one simply confined to a narrow segment of society. However, revenue reforms that threaten elite interests may stumble : therefore building a functioning democracy that represents the interests of the majority is crucial to the effectiveness of any reform that aims to achieve a broad-based recovery from war. The paper concludes that reducing the intensity of conflict has a positive pay-off for revenue mobilization and increases the effectiveness of donor assistance.