21 Oct 2008 3:30pm - 5:00pm CRASSH, 17 Mill Lane, Seminar Room

Description

Note change of time: 15.30 – 16.50

 
Speaker: Naoise Mac Sweeney

Abstract
Conflict is self-perpetuating. Cycles of violence and vengeance feed from one another, and the economic patterns which accompany them act in a similarly cyclical way. War leads to poverty, and poverty fuels war; left unchecked, wartime economies can stimulate conflict and destabilise peace. The international community is increasingly turning to economic development as a means of addressing violent conflict, hoping to promote peace by spreading prosperity and relieving poverty. However, opinion is divided over how economic development should best be carried out in a post-conflict situation, and the international community is currently pursuing varied (and sometimes conflicting) strategies. This paper surveys the range of approaches currently being adopted by western governments and multilateral agencies, and identifies a major fault-line between these approaches. The paper goes on to consider what needs to be done to make economic development more effective in post-conflict situations, to work for both peace and prosperity.

Biography
Dr Naoise Mac Sweeney is a Research Fellow at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. She is also currently working with the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) on the project Private-Sector Development in Conflict-Affected Environments. Her main areas of research are ethnic tension, migration, and community identity; using both historical and contemporary examples.

Part of Post-Conflict & Post-Crisis Research Colloquium

 

 

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