Abstract
There were 225 armed conflicts from 1946 to 2001, 34 of which were active in 2001. This indicates that the termination of the so-called Cold War did not end fighting and the slaughtering of people. More than 90 percent of conflicts take place within countries; they are civil wars. The causes of armed conflicts have been studied by academia and international organizations. The factors explaining conflicts are manifold. They include political ambitions and frustrations, domestic and foreign economic interests, institutional and social conditions, geopolitical factors and ideology. Analytical and empirical work on the eco-nomic roots of conflicts is growing. For instance, the World Bank research program, “The Economics of Civil War, Crime and Violence” is far from being purely academic and indicates “implications for policy.” Some studies concentrate on the conditions for ending conflict, the consolidation of post-conflict peace and prevention. Sets of early warning indicators are proposed. Terrorism is also perceived as a conflict, with the “privatization of war,” and the economics of separatism becoming research topics.
Armed conflicts require weapons. Their avoid-Ance necessitates disarming and fighting the trafficking of weapons, which has economic dimensions with the imposition of strict controls on exports and imports, the conversion of defense-related industries, the reduction in size of armed forces and the reinsertion in civil life of former combatants.
Despite the accumulation of important analytical works, empirical evidence and recommendations for action, it seems that the academic and re-search community has little impact on rulers, politicians and decision-makers.2 We hope that this article may contribute to the bridging of analysis, policies and international cooperation.
References
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Ibidem.
See: P. Collier, “Economic Causes of Civil Conflict and their Implication for Policy,” World Bank, 15 June, 2000.
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Ibidem.
See: R. Gunaratna, “The Employment of Suicide in Terrorism and Guerrilla Warfare,” in: “Vers une privatisation des conflits?” Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique, Recherches & Documents, No. 22, Avril 2001.
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The Arabic word Hawala “refers to money transfers, regardless of how it is made,” it is based on mutual trust and per-sonal relationship, and might even be faster, cheaper and more reliable than formal banking.
See: National Center for Policy Analysis, “Global Disaster Losses Reach $115 Billion in 2001,” Daily Policy Digest,Friday, 21 December, 2001.
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“Political corruption” is relatively hard to reduce because, in some cases, the heads of state directly benefit from it.
Which is in line with the obligations of Article VIII of the IMF Articles of Agreement.
There are initiatives for involving large companies in conflict prevention activities.
W. Enders, T. Sandler, op. cit.
See: G. Becker, “Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 76, No. 2, March-April 1968.
P. Collier, op. cit., p. 14.
See the website of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) for relevant information about weapons, their trafficking and disarmament.
D.A. Hamburg, Preventing Contemporary Inter-group Violence. Paper presented at the USAID January 2001 Confer-ence on “The Role of Foreign Assistance in Conflict Prevention.”
Ibidem.
See, for instance: World Bank publications.
See: D. Fischer, J. Brauer, Twenty Questions for Peace Economics: A Research Agenda. Paper prepared for a special issue of Defense and Peace Economics, April 2002.
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