Economic Development, Inequality and War

Economic Development, Inequality and War shows how economic decline, income inequality, pervasive rent seeking by ruling elites, political authoritarianism, military centrality and competition for mineral exports contribute to humanitarian emergencies, a human-made crisis in which numerous people die from war and state violence. Economic regress and political decay bring about relative deprivation, perception by social groups of injustice arising from a growing discrepancy between what...
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Economic Development, Inequality and War shows how economic decline, income inequality, pervasive rent seeking by ruling elites, political authoritarianism, military centrality and competition for mineral exports contribute to humanitarian emergencies, a human-made crisis in which numerous people die from war and state violence. Economic regress and political decay bring about relative deprivation, perception by social groups of injustice arising from a growing discrepancy between what they expect and get. Nafziger and Auvinen's evidence indicates that both greed and grievance drive contemporary civil wars. Finally, the authors also identify policies for preventing humanitarian emergencies.