Coming Home: Forced Displacement and Return after Armed Conflict

• In Event: The Impact of Civil War Settlements on Citizens’ Attitudes and Agency

Abstract

People often flee their homes due to war and violence. After armed conflict subsides, how do these civilians during war decide whether to return home and rebuild? While scholars have recently built knowledge on how governments can use effective tools of counterinsurgency, we know less about encouraging citizens to rebuild their communities. We examine this question through a novel survey-based framing experiment and focus group accounts from the remaining conflict-affected areas of Colombia. We examine how the various experimental treatments of signals of reassurance in the form of improved security, the installation of a military base, and improvements in economic prospects affect individuals’ decisions to recommend that a relative return home. We also assess how the effects of the treatments are conditioned by individuals lived experiences and histories of victimization. We examine correlates of recommending return to understand why some individuals are most inclined toward resettlement. The findings have implications for how to promote resettlement and identify the differing needs of war-torn communities in Colombia as well as in other countries facing large-scale forced displacement, such as Syria, Iraq, and South Sudan.

Authors

• Oliver Kaplan, University of Denver

• Joseph K. Young, American University