Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/300319 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 2024/45
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
Why do some conflict-affected areas remain an arena of violent contestation of the state, while others transition to peace? I suggest that economic networks developed during intrastate conflict-i.e. wartime economies-give rise to continued pockets of insecurity. The significance of the wartime economy for local livelihoods sustains an interdependence between rebels and communities that permits rebels to remain locally embedded as they protect resource extraction and trade. It also creates the perception that state expansion could threaten collective survival, raising costs of effective counterinsurgency. Drawing on novel subnational data on Peru, an instrumental variables approach, and interviews with community members, government officials, and experts, I demonstrate that areas linked to the wartime economy see more violent attacks after conflict termination as a function of how the civic perception of governance actors has developed in the area. The findings underscore the limitations of coercive state capacity and the centrality of civilians in shaping governance.
Subjects: 
post-conflict violence
state building
illicit economy
drug trade
instrumental variable
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-92-9267-507-3
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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