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Legal empowerment and horizontal inequalities after conflict

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  • Lars Waldorf

Abstract

This article explores whether legal empowerment can address horizontal inequalities in post-conflict settings, and if so, how. It argues that legal empowerment has modest potential to reduce these inequalities but that there are risks of strengthening group identities, reducing social cohesion, and, in the worst case, triggering conflict. It uses a case study to examine how two legal empowerment programmes in Liberia navigated this tension between equity and peace.

Suggested Citation

  • Lars Waldorf, 2017. "Legal empowerment and horizontal inequalities after conflict," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-50, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2017-50
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    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/wp2017-50.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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