Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil War and Development Policy / Edition 1

by World Bank, Oxford University Press USA, World Bank Group

Overview

Civil war conflict is a core development issue. The existence of civil war can dramatically slow a country's development process, especially in low-income countries which are more vulnerable to civil war conflict. Conversely, development can impede civil war. When development succeeds, countries become safer—when development fails, they experience a greater risk of being caught in a conflict trap. Ultimately, civil war is a failure of development. 'Breaking the Conflict Trap' identifies the dire consequences that civil war has on the development process and offers three main findings. First, civil war has adverse ripple effects that are often not taken into account by those who determine whether wars start or end. Second, some countries are more likely than others to experience civil war conflict and thus, the risks of civil war differ considerably according to a country's characteristics including its economic stability. Finally, Breaking the Conflict Trap explores viable international measures that can be taken to reduce the global incidence of civil war and proposes a practical agenda for action. This book should serve as a wake up call to anyone in the international community who still thinks that development and conflict are distinct issues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780821354810
Publisher:	World Bank Publications
Publication date:	05/30/2003
Series:	Policy Research Reports
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.78(w) x 9.26(h) x 0.47(d)

Table of Contents

	Foreword	ix
	The Report Team	xiii
	Acronyms and Abbreviations	xv
	Overview	1
	Let Them Fight It Out among Themselves?	1
	What Can We Do about Ancestral Hatreds?	3
	The Conflict Trap	4
	The Rising Global Incidence of Conflict	5
	Nothing Can Be Done	6
Part I.	Cry Havoc: Why Civil War Matters	11
1.	Civil War as Development in Reverse	13
	Costs during Conflict	13
	Legacy Effects of Civil War	19
	Conclusion	31
2.	Let Them Fight It Out among Themselves?	33
	Neighborhood Effects of Civil War	33
	Global Effects of Civil War	41
	Conclusion	48
Part II.	What Fuels Civil War?	51
3.	What Makes a Country Prone to Civil War?	53
	Understanding Rebellion	55
	The Conflict Trap	79
	Conclusion	88
4.	Why Is Civil War So Common?	93
	Changes in the Global Pattern of Civil War	93
	Changes in the Incidence of Civil War	98
	Unpacking the Global Incidence of Civil War	100
	Conclusion: Poverty and the Conflict Trap	117
Part III.	Policies for Peace	119
5.	What Works Where?	121
	Conflict Prevention in the Successful Developers	122
	Marginalized Countries at Peace	125
	Ending Conflicts	140
	Reducing Postconflict Risks	150
	Conclusion	171
6.	An Agenda for International Action	173
	Precedents for International Action	174
	International Policies for Peace	175
	Conclusion: A New Goal for 2015?	186
Appendix 1.	Methods and Data	189
	Data Set and Model	189
	Data Sources	193
Appendix 2.	A Selected Bibliography of Studies of Civil War and Rebellion	197
	Economic Factors	197
	Role of Ethnicity and Nationalism	198
	Anatomy of Rebellion	199
	Role of the State	199
	Negotiation and Implementation of Peace	200
	Bibliography	200
	References	211
	Boxes
1.1	Violent conflict and the transformation of social capital	16
1.2	Refugees and IDPs in Liberia and Sudan	20
1.3	Angola	28
1.4	Psychological trauma	29
1.5	Landmines: A bitter legacy for Cambodians	31
2.1	Regional arms races	34
2.2	Eritrea	40
3.1	Modeling the risk of civil war	58
3.2	Oil and demands for secession in Nigeria	61
3.3	Inefficient counterinsurgency measures in Indonesia	73
3.4	Financing the Chechen rebellion	78

Editorial Reviews

"The book's findings are instructive.... The authors wisely advise that no single policy can be successful on its own and each country or conflict needs a unique combination of initiatives which address the specific conditions."—Public Administration and Development

From the Publisher