Sabine Kurtenbach / Angelika Rettberg

War Economies: Common Traits and Implications for Lasting Peace

Chapter in Edited Volume | 2025


  • Abstract

    War economies are neither a new phenomenon nor a specific feature of the Global South. With the shifting patterns in armed conflict toward the Global South and the end of the Cold War, the debate changed focus towards blood diamonds, illicit narcotics, or artisanal mining among others. These resources are important for arrmed actors to sustain their organizations as well as to broaden territorial and political control After the formal end of confrontations, war economies do not necessarily cease to exist. While this is obvious for rural areas where drugs are produced, or diamonds, timber, or gold are extracted, some patterns of urban violence in postwar societies are also related to the political and economic remnants and legacies of war economies. The chapter describes different types of war economies and discusses their implications for building lasting peace in transitional societies.

    Research Programmes

    Published in

    Handbook of Peace and Conflict Studies

    Editor(s)

    Siddharth Tripathi

    Solveig Richter

    Publisher

    Roman & Littlefield Publishers

    Pages

    341–356

    ISBN

    978-1-5381-4734-4

    979-8-8818-4239-0

    Location

    New York

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