On the links between violent conflict and chronic poverty: how much do we really know?

Violent conflict, ranging in intensity from riots to wars, has become commonplace in today's world, and it would appear as though civil unrest on all scales is inextricably linked to poverty and deprivation. Or is it?

This paper examines the trends emerging from recent research into the relationship between violent conflict and chronic poverty. The author weighs up the usefulness of this research, and considers the transmission mechanisms from violent conflict through to chronic poverty, and the impact of chronic poverty on conflict. A micro-level perspective is taken, whereby impacts on individual and household poverty, exclusion and deprivation are considered.

The paper reveals that sound micro-level evidence on this issue is particularly hard to come by. However, some important conclusions can be drawn:

• violent conflict can cause chronic poverty and contribute to the creation of poverty traps
• the chronically poor are likely to suffer disproportionately from violent conflict
• violent conflict can bring benefits to some groups (including the chronically poor) which may counterbalance the negative impacts
• in turn, persistent poverty can create the grounds for increased social discontent which can lead to violent conflict and chronic poverty may lead individuals to become fighters as a form of coping with poverty itself.