The Place of Mineral Resource Conflicts in Critical Security Analysis in Africa

The Effects of a Less Repressive Counternarcotics Policy on Post-conflict Violence

“…While this approach explains why violent conflict persists and creates a sort of conflict trap due to illegal economies, it does not offer explanations as to why an illegal actor signs a peace accord and prefers the political benefits of laying down their arms and stopping fighting despite the revenues of illegal economies or natural resources. It nonetheless suggests that violence in the post-conflict period could also be motivated by greed, particularly in contexts with important revenues from illegal activities that require the provision of security services and this approach is one of the most applicable in current studies (Fearon and Laitin 2003;Nwosu 2023;Idler 2020;Felbab-Brown 2017;Walker and Botero 2022;World Bank Group 2022). This approach views post-conflict violence as including the persistence of conflict (Walter 2015) or the "conflict trap" (Paul Collier et al 2003).…”

“…In contemporary civil wars, war economies often revolve around the relevance of alternative sources of self-financing for armed actors in the post-Cold War era. These sources of revenue may include extortion, oil, diamond, or drug trafficking (Collier and Hoeffler 1998;Collins and Alarcón 2021;Nwosu 2023). The concept of a 'war economy' refers to an intricate system of economic structures that involve combat, shadow, and coping economies.…”

The Effects of a Less Repressive Counternarcotics Policy on Post-conflict Violence

“…While this approach explains why violent conflict persists and creates a sort of conflict trap due to illegal economies, it does not offer explanations as to why an illegal actor signs a peace accord and prefers the political benefits of laying down their arms and stopping fighting despite the revenues of illegal economies or natural resources. It nonetheless suggests that violence in the post-conflict period could also be motivated by greed, particularly in contexts with important revenues from illegal activities that require the provision of security services and this approach is one of the most applicable in current studies (Fearon and Laitin 2003;Nwosu 2023;Idler 2020;Felbab-Brown 2017;Walker and Botero 2022;World Bank Group 2022). This approach views post-conflict violence as including the persistence of conflict (Walter 2015) or the "conflict trap" (Paul Collier et al 2003).…”

“…In contemporary civil wars, war economies often revolve around the relevance of alternative sources of self-financing for armed actors in the post-Cold War era. These sources of revenue may include extortion, oil, diamond, or drug trafficking (Collier and Hoeffler 1998;Collins and Alarcón 2021;Nwosu 2023). The concept of a 'war economy' refers to an intricate system of economic structures that involve combat, shadow, and coping economies.…”