Violent Conflict and Chronic Poverty

ABSTRACT 8.1 Introduction Conflict prevails in all societies, at all levels of per capita income. Successful societies are those that build institutions, both formal and informal, capable of channelling conflict into mechanisms for its non-violent expression and eventual resolution. Violence then becomes the exception in social life, and when violence does occur, it is contained and prevented from eroding the foundations of the state itself. Conflict turns violent when the mechanisms for its peaceful resolution break down or when they have never been effectively built. Such violent social conflict may be experienced at many different levels, from localised rioting to large-scale inter-communal violence. As the number of deaths and injuries rises, this can spiral into regional rebellion and a full-scale war. War itself can take many different forms. It may be confined to specific areas or rage right across a country (spilling over into neighbours as well); the intensity of the fighting can wax and wane; and there may be no distinct separation between war and peace, even after the signing of a formal peace agreement. As a country goes through recurrent conflicts, with periods of peace in between, so the chance of conflict recurring increase, making it hard to break the cycle of conflict (Addison and Murshed, 2002; Collier et al., 2004a, 2004b; Walter, 2004). Understanding how conflict and chronic poverty are related is important: many chronically poor people live in countries that have been particularly affected by large-scale violent conflict over the last few decades.