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Poverty and Civil War Events

Author

Listed:
  • HÃ¥vard Hegre

    (Centre for the Study of Civil War (CSCW) Department of Political Science,University of Oslo International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO))

  • Gudrun Østby

    (Department of Political Science, University of Oslo Centre for the Study of Civil War (CSCW) International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO))

  • Clionadh Raleigh

    (Centre for the Study of Civil War (CSCW) International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) Department of Political Science Trinity College Dublin)

Abstract

This article examines the link between subnational poverty and the location of civil war events. Drawing on the ACLED dataset, which breaks internal conflicts down to individual events at the local level, we take a disaggregated approach to the study of conflict. Local-level socioeconomic data are taken from the Liberian Demographic and Health Survey. With geographical cells of approximately 76 km 2 as units of analysis, we test how absolute and relative welfare affect the presence and number of conflict events during the 1989-2002 Liberian civil war. We control for neighboring conflict events, distance to Monrovia and national borders, population density, diamond deposits, and ethnic affiliations. War events were more frequent in the richer locations. This may provide better support for “opportunity†explanations than for “relative deprivation†theories of conflict, but we argue that the relative weakness of the Liberian government makes it difficult to distinguish between the two.

Suggested Citation

  • HÃ¥vard Hegre & Gudrun Østby & Clionadh Raleigh, 2009. "Poverty and Civil War Events," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 53(4), pages 598-623, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:53:y:2009:i:4:p:598-623
    DOI: 10.1177/0022002709336459
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    6. Sen, Amartya, 1997. "On Economic Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198292975.
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    Cited by:

    1. Philip Arena & Brian Hardt, 2014. "Incentives to Rebel, Bargaining, and Civil War," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(1), pages 127-141, January.
    2. Yuri M. Zhukov, 2014. "Theory of Indiscriminate Violence," Working Paper 365551, Harvard University OpenScholar.
    3. de Juan, Alexander, 2012. "Mapping Political Violence – The Approaches and Conceptual Challenges of Subnational Geospatial Analyses of Intrastate Conflict," GIGA Working Papers 211, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    4. Stijn van Weezel, 2017. "Mostly Harmless? A Subnational Analysis of the Aid-Conflict Nexus," Working Papers 201728, School of Economics, University College Dublin.

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