After blood diamonds: The moral economy of illegality in the Sierra Leonean diamond market

While the role of illegal markets in contemporary inner-state wars has drawn considerable attention from both researchers and policy makers, very little is known about the fate of these "war economies" after the end of violent conflict. This paper aims to contribute to an understanding of the functioning of illegal markets under the condition of limited statehood by examining what has become of a notorious war economy: the illegal diamond market in Sierra Leone. Drawing on extensive field research, this analysis of the social order of the illegal diamond market in post-conflict Sierra Leone shows that while illegal activities are still widespread, the illegal diamond economy has largely been peacefully integrated into the social and economic order of the post-conflict society. In contrast to the violent and conflict-fueling war economy, the post-conflict illegal diamond economy is surprisingly benign. I argue that the illegal Sierra Leonean diamond market today can be understood as a moral economy of illegality, since economic action in this market is decisively shaped and regulated by widely held social norms about legitimate and illegitimate practices. It is highly interwoven with both the state and the legal markets, and has thus become part of the "peace economy."