Conflict, Civil War and Underdevelopment

An Introduction

Bibliographic Data

ID3917868
AuthorsMansoob Murshed (0000-0003-3717-6424), Syed Mansoob Murshed (0000-0002-8360-033X, Instituto de Estudios Sociales, corresponding author)
Year2002
Volume39
Issue4
Pages387-393
Publication date2002-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Peace Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3433 • E-ISSN: 1460-3578
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0022343302039004001
OpenAlexW2151229585
LanguageEN
Citations received42
References cited14

Conflict has been a feature of human society since time immemorial. Disputes that arise may be organized around social class, ethnicity, religion, region, or some combination of these factors. The struggle can be over economic opportunities, as well as political and civil rights, among other contestable factors. In peaceful societies, conflict is channelled into nonviolent means and institutions for both its expression and resolution. Civil war is not necessarily irrational, but a product of certain objectives, therefore amenable to rational-choice analysis. In low-income countries, civil war makes poverty reduction and growth difficult to achieve. Many contemporary civil wars have an ethnic dimension, as ethnicity is a strong uniting force. Grievances, therefore, play a major part in contemporary conflict, but greed - the desire to control resources and capture rents - also enters into the calculus of conflict. Ultimately, open warfare cannot emerge inside a society with a functioning social contract, as greed and grievances are managed and conflict is contained in countries with properly operating institutions. Consequently, conflict resolution requires the reconstitution of the social contract

Civil Conflict · Conflict resolution · Development economics · Economics · Ethnic conflict · Ethnic group · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social conflict · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Underdevelopment · Corruption and Economic Development · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Law · Political Conflict and Governance

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