Conflict Capital

• In Event: Security Institutions

Abstract

What factors explain the success or failure of a war-to-peace transition? Scholars have focused on a host of factors that are rooted in the politics and economics of civil wars, but in doing so, we have broadly overlooked the social and health impacts of civil war. What happens to a society after repeated episodes of mass public violence? This paper addresses this gap by introducing the concept of conflict capital. Building on the social capital literature, “conflict capital” refers to a society’s norms, networks, and bonds of trust that are created in the crucible of civil war, through intense, collective experiences with violence. Incorporating conflict capital into our understanding of post-conflict transitions contributes to a more complete understanding of violence in the aftermath of war, and addresses some of the puzzling social dynamics of post-conflict transitions. This article sketches out a model of how conflict capital is created, destroyed, and activated. It argues that the intensity of shared war experiences leads to more resilient post-war networks and increased “stickiness” in building and maintaining bonds of trust. The paper concludes by offering a new research agenda to empirically testing this concept in the field.

Author

• Christine Cheng, King's College London