Educational Access and Peace Duration in Post-Conflict Countries

Does increased access to education after the end of a civil war reduce or increase the risk of the resumption of civil war? As several scholars have argued, increased access to education is linked with the promotion of civil society, reduces economic inequality, and improves the livelihood of the population (Walter 2004). Moreover, by promoting education, the government signals to the population that it is concerned with the citizens of the country (Thyne 2006). Further, the opportunity for education increases the opportunity costs for rebels to fight the government, hence reducing the likelihood that former rebels will reinitiate a conflict (Collier and Hoeffler 2004; Walter 2002). On the other hand, others have pointed out that education may contribute to conflict particularly if employment opportunities do not keep pace with educational attainment (Buckland 2005; Degu 2005). Despite the claims of a theoretical linkage between access to education and peace duration, most empirical studies have examined the effects of civil war on education (Buckland 2005; Lai and Thyne 2007) as opposed to the effects of educational access on the recurrence of civil conflict or have focused largely on individual cases. In this article, using a stratified proportional hazard analysis, we empirically examine the relationship between increased education enrollments and the likelihood of civil war recurrence from 1990--2008.