Institutional legacies of violent conflict

This project seeks to increase understanding among policymakers, academics and practitioners of how institutional dynamics that develop during violent conflicts shape state-building and economic development trajectories in the long run, in order to provide policy guidance on achieving SDG 16.

 

While peace and stability are central to the prosperity and security of countries and their citizens, we currently have limited understanding of how and why violent conflicts persist, how and why their legacies endure across time, and what can be done to reduce the risk and impact of violence.This project will contribute to changes in conceptual understanding and policy discourse on how the different political dynamics and processes of institutional change that take place during (and due to) conflict shape state-building, economic development, and the persistence of the conflict and its legacies in the future.

To this purpose, the project will offer new comparative evidence on linkages between wartime institutions and post-conflict economic development, including the interaction between conflict dynamics, COVID-19 and associated policies to contain it. This evidence will be used to identify entry points and to influence the implementation of more effective interventions and policies by governments as well as international and grassroot organizations to build strong and inclusive state institutions, which will support the transition of countries from violence and instability to sustainable peace.

The project will include theory-building combined with the use of empirical data at the individual, household, community and national levels. It is organized around two thematic areas: (1) The effect of war dynamics on state-building trajectories in post-conflict countries, and (2) Linkages between wartime institutions and post-conflict economic development. In addition, the project has cross-cutting themes on the interactions between conflict dynamics, COVID-19 and associated policies to contain it, and on the rise of protests, demonstrations and riots across the globe.

The project will produce and/or commission 50--60 research papers from leading researchers in conflict analysis, peacebuilding and related fields by the end of 2022. 

Key questions
  • Why do some war-affected countries establish politically stable governments, while others continue to endure cycles of violence and conflict? What explains this variation in the political trajectories of war-torn countries?
  • How and when does governance emerge in war zones and what forms does it take? What are its legacies for state-building and economic recovery of post-conflict countries?
  • How does the institutional legacy of conflict affect patterns of economic growth and development in post-conflict countries?
  • What role does the intergenerational transmission of violence play in the social and economic recovery of conflict-affected countries?
  • How do different groups – defined across gender, age, ethnicity and religious beliefs – experience violence, their consequences and contribute to peace and state-building?
  • What is the relationship between economic and health shocks and violent conflict, peacebuilding and economic recovery interventions in post-conflict settings – and when do shocks result in the renewal of violence and conflict?
  • How can failures in governance be avoided during COVID-19 to ensure the sustainability of peace and security?
See a list of collaborating researchers and research paper topics here (to be updated on a rolling basis).
 
Watch this space

All papers, data, opinion pieces and opportunities to engage relating to this project will be available on this web page.

UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The research will address SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

 

Follow the conversation at #LegaciesofConflict

 

TEAM

Focal point: Patricia Justino

Core researcher: Laura Saavedra-Lux

Project support: Iina Kuuttila

Communications: Eeva Nyyssönen

 

Collaborating researchers

109 articles, publications, projects, experts...

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    Journal Article
    The long-term economic legacies of rebel rule in civil war

    A growing literature has documented widespread variation in the extent to which insurgents provide public goods, collect taxes, and regulate civilian conduct. This paper offers what is, to our knowledge, the first study of the long-term economic...

    Presentation
    Laura Saavedra-Lux presents at the KIEL-CEPR African Economic Development Conference

    Laura Saavedra-Lux, Research Associate at UNU-WIDER, presents her working paper on the connections of foreign direct investment and conflicts at the conference on African economic development (AEDC), organized by the Centre for Economic Policy...

    Thu, 12 September 2024
    Federal Ministry of Finance, Berlin, Germany
    Past event
    Journal Article
    Can preferences for redistribution explain the impact of austerity on political participation? Evidence from the UK

    Many European countries introduced austerity policies to control rising debt in the wake of the Great Recession of the late 2000s. Recent research suggests that austerity fuelled political polarization, instability, and populism in Europe. However...

    Working Paper
    Faraway, so close: the impact of the Russia–Ukraine war on political violence in Asian countries

    We show that the Russia–Ukraine-war-induced changes in the international price of wheat affected political violence in Asia. Using data from 13 countries and more than four million cell-level observations, we show that a higher wheat price increases...

    Journal Article
    Are the effects of terrorism short-lived?

    Terrorism elicits strong public reactions immediately after the attack, with important implications for democratic institutions and individual well-being. Are these effects short-lived?We answer this question using a natural experiment design and...

    Working Paper
    Indirect rule: armed groups and customary chiefs in eastern DRC

    This paper leverages a novel panel dataset covering the histories of 306 chiefs and 256 episodes of village governance and taxation by armed groups in 106 villages in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in order to analyse the relationship...

    Journal Article
    It’s our turn (not) to learn

    In this study, we investigate the relationship between education reform, institutional legacies of inequality, and changing political institutions in a poor, conflict-affected country. Burundi experienced a dramatic change in ethnic and regional...

    Journal Article
    Introducing the Mapping Attitudes, Perceptions and Support (MAPS) dataset on the Colombian peace process

    This article introduces the Mapping Attitudes, Perceptions and Support (MAPS) dataset, which provides rich survey data from more than 12,000 respondents in Colombia. Our panel survey – carried out in two separate waves in 2019 and 2021 – is...

    Working Paper
    Polling during war

    Collecting public opinion data is challenging in the shadow of war. And yet accurate public opinion is crucial. Political elites rely on it and often attempt to influence it. Therefore, it is incumbent on researchers to provide independent and...

    Blog
    Development aid cuts will hit fragile countries hard, could fuel violent conflict

    Fragile and least developed countries have had their development assistance cut drastically, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation...

    Blog
    Why are frontiers and borderlands more conflict prone—and what have institutions got to do with this?

    According to a recent OECD Report, borderlands experience a greater intensity of violence, especially violence targeted against the state. While there...

    Journal Article
    Acting like a state

    This article examines the complex local dynamics of armed violence in post-war Abkhazia. Drawing on in-depth interviews with the Abkhaz participants and non-participants in this violence and a range of secondary materials, it adapts the conceptual...

    Research Brief
    The prolonged effects of terrorism

    Terrorist violence has a profound influence on social attitudes, including trust in governmental institutions and attitudes towards migration and civil freedoms. Acts of terrorism cause citizens to experience a complex range of negative emotions...

    Working Paper
    Frontier rule and conflict

    We examine whether frontier rule, which disallows frontier residents from a recourse to formal institutions of conflict management and disproportionately empowers tribal elites, provides a more fragile basis for maintaining social order in the face...

    Working Paper
    Double-edged sword: understanding the localized effect of foreign direct investment inflow in conflict settings

    We analyse how inward foreign direct investment (FDI) received amid ongoing violence shapes armed conflict. We argue that FDI affects patterns of violence by influencing the state’s counterinsurgency strategy. To prevent disinvestment, governments...

    Workshop
    UNU-WIDER at UN Youth of Finland's Youth Peace Week: Young voices in peace research

    UNU-WIDER takes part in UN Youth of Finland's Youth Peace Week 21 September 2023. In partnership with UN Youth of Finland and Saferglobe, UNU-WIDER organizes Young voices in peace research.

    Thu, 21 September 2023
    Huolintatalo, Pasilankatu 2, 00101, Helsinki, Finland
    Past event
    Displaying 16 of 109 results

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    Theme: 2019-23, Transforming states

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