War and Underdevelopment: Volume 2: Country Experiences: (War and Underdevelopment)

Wars, especially civil wars, are among the most serious causes of human suffering and underdevelopment. Yet economic analysis of developing countries at war is relatively rare. These volumes aim to reverse this neglect, tracing the economic and social consequences of conflict both theoretically and through empirical investigations, including seven country case studies. A major objective is to identify policies which may reduce the heavy human and economic costs. Volume One provides a general framework for the analysis, examines the political economy of countries at war, and provides an empirical overview of the costs of war for the poor countries worst affected by conflict. The approach is multidisciplinary: political and sociological analysis is needed in order to understand motivations and behaviour during conflict; while economic analysis is necessary to evaluate how poor people are affected. The analysis includes an investigation of how the international system, including food aid, affects the war economies, and identifies international as well as domestic policies which may reduce the human and economic costs of conflict. The subject is particularly important in view of the high incidence of wars in poor countries. Between 1950 and 1990, around 15 million deaths were caused (directly or indirectly) by war in developing countries. The end of the Cold War led to a transition to peace in many of the areas in which conflict had been fuelled by East-West antagonism, but new wars erupted. From 1989 to 1995, between 34 and 51 armed conflicts were waged each year, the great majority in poor developing countries. These volumes investigate economic and social consequences at macro-, meso- and micro- levels, aiming to identify the indirect costs (e.g. via inflation and reduced entitlements) as well as direct costs of military operations. The in-depth country case studies published in Volume Two (Afghanistan, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Uganda) are summarized in Volume One. These explore the main economic mechanisms operating during war and the policy responses of governments and international actors, showing how each can enlarge the costs and further fuel the conflicts. The large variations in this response and in the consequent costs point to domestic and international policies which can reduce the human and economic costs even before peace is restored.

Table of Contents:
1: Frances Stewart and Valpy Fitzgerald: Case Studies of Countries at War: An Introduction 2: Peter Marsden and Emma Samman: Afghanistan: the Economic and Social Impact of Conflicts 3: Tilman Brück: Mozambique: The Economic Effects of the War 4: Mark F. Chigono: Mozambique: War, Economic Change, and Development in Manica Province, 1982-92 5: Valpy Fitzgerald and Arturo Grigsby: Nicaragua: The Political Economy of Social Reform and Armed Conflict 6: David Keen: Sierra Leone: War and its Functions 7: Meghan O'Sullivan: Sri Lanka: Civil Society and the State, 1983-1985 8: David Keen: Sudan: Conflict and Rationality 9: John Mary Matovu and Frances Stewart: Uganda: The Social and Economic Costs of Conflict

About the Author :
Frances Stewart is Director, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford, and Professor of Development Economics and Fellow of Somerville College, University of Oxford Valpy Fitzgerald is Director, Finance Trade and Policy Centre, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford

Review :
`The two volumes are most valuable, as much in what they cover as in the questions they provoke. The study opens an important field of future work and policy concern, closely related to the real issues confronting some very poor countries' Nigel Harris, Journal of Development Studies `the case studies are rich, powerful and well-focused ... their strength is that they provoke so many further questions for further investigation' Nigel Harris, Journal of Development Studies `This is an excellent and accomplished introduction to a vast but much neglected field of study and of action, civil war in some of the poorest developing countries' Nigel Harris, Journal of Development Studies `The volumes are excellently designed and well referenced' Nigel Harris, Journal of Development Studies