Civil War | Definition, Causes, & Theories - Encyclopedia Britannica

Economic causes of civil war

Most civil wars take place within relatively poorer societies. Early contributions to the study of violence within societies tended to focus on economic deprivation and grievances as key motives. The American political scientist Ted Gurr, for example, highlighted inequality and how groups may resort to rebellion if they are dissatisfied with their current economic status relative to their aspirations. The literature on nationalist conflicts emphasized how both relatively poorer and wealthier groups are likely to rebel against the centre if they believe that they can do better under independence. Civil wars in Latin American countries were often interpreted within a framework focusing on economic grievances arising from either unequal land distribution or high income inequality. However, the empirical evidence linking individual income inequality and civil conflict is mixed.

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Subsequent political-economic studies of civil war tended to dismiss the role of grievances. Some researchers argued that grievances are ubiquitous and that it is more important to focus on variation in the opportunities for violence. Thus the British economists Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler argued that low overall income makes it easier to mobilize insurgencies, since potential recruits have less to lose in foregone income from normal economic activities. The American political scientists James Fearon and David Laitin claimed that civil war is primarily a problem of weak states and that weakness is largely determined by economic development. Researchers in this tradition also linked mobilization to the role of individual incentives. Opportunities for insurgencies are greater when participants can prosper from war—for example, through looting or by gaining control of valuable natural resources. Empirical studies also supported the supposed link between the existence of valuable natural resources and a higher risk of civil war. Civil wars in Africa are often taken to support those perspectives.