MIDLANDS STATE UNIVERSITY

Department of Development Studies

Module: Conflict, Peace and Development
Lecturer: Dr. Nciizah

COMPREHENSIVE STUDY NOTES

Covering All Topics in the Module Outline

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SECTION 1: BASICS AND CONCEPTUALISATION OF TERMS
1.1 Definitions of Key Concepts: Peace, Conflict, and Development
Peace

Peace is commonly understood at two levels. Negative peace refers to the mere absence of direct,

organised violence — when guns are silent and open hostilities have ceased. Positive peace, a

more demanding concept developed by Norwegian scholar Johan Galtung, refers to a condition

in which the structural, social, and economic conditions that generate violence have been
removed. Positive peace encompasses social justice, equitable resource distribution, respect for

human rights, functioning institutions, and inclusive governance.

The distinction is critical for development studies: a country may achieve negative peace after a

ceasefire but remain in a state of structural violence, inequality, and fragility that makes it

vulnerable to renewed conflict. True, durable peace requires addressing the root causes of

conflict, not merely stopping fighting.

💡 Key Note: Johan Galtung's framework remains foundational. Students should be able to

distinguish negative from positive peace and explain why development practitioners aim for the

latter.

📌 Example: Rwanda achieved negative peace after the 1994 genocide. The subsequent two

decades of state-led reconciliation, economic development, and institutional reform represent

an effort to build positive peace — though critics note ongoing political repression raises

questions about how deep this peace actually runs.

Conflict

Conflict, in its broadest sense, refers to a perceived incompatibility of goals, interests, or values

between two or more parties. Conflict is a normal feature of human social life — competition

over resources, ideas, and power is inevitable. Not all conflict is violent; labour disputes,

electoral contests, and policy debates are forms of non-violent conflict.

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Violent conflict occurs when parties resort to physical force to resolve incompatibilities. This

includes civil wars, ethnic violence, communal clashes, terrorism, and inter-state war. It is

violent conflict — particularly intra-state conflict — that is the primary concern of this module,

given its devastating impact on development in Africa and other parts of the developing world.

Key dimensions of conflict include its actors (who is fighting?), causes (why are they fighting?),

dynamics (how does it escalate and de-escalate?), and trajectory (how does it start, evolve, and

potentially end?).

Development

Development refers to a process of positive social change aimed at improving human wellbeing,

expanding capabilities, and creating conditions in which people can live fulfilling lives. It

encompasses economic growth, but also social equity, human rights, environmental

sustainability, and political freedom.

Amartya Sen's capabilities approach, articulated in Development as Freedom (1999), defines

development as the expansion of real freedoms that people enjoy — freedom from poverty,

disease, ignorance, and political oppression. This approach provides a powerful framework for

understanding how conflict undermines development by stripping people of their freedoms and

capabilities.

The interconnection between peace, conflict, and development is central to this module. Conflict

destroys development gains; poverty and inequality fuel conflict; and development, if

inequitable, can generate new grievances and instability. These three concepts form an

inseparable triangle that must be understood together.

1.2 Defining Structural Violence: Development Policies and War

Structural violence is a concept coined by Johan Galtung to describe harm caused not by direct

physical violence but by social structures, institutions, and systems that prevent people from

meeting their basic needs. It is 'built in' to the fabric of society. When people die of preventable

diseases because they cannot afford healthcare, when children are denied education due to

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poverty, when women are excluded from economic and political life — these are all forms of

structural violence.

Galtung distinguishes structural violence from direct violence (an act of physical harm by a

person) and cultural violence (the use of culture, religion, or ideology to justify direct or

structural violence).

Development policies themselves can generate structural violence. Structural Adjustment

Programmes of the 1980s and 1990s, imposed by the IMF and World Bank, cut public spending

on health and education, removed food subsidies, and liberalised trade — with devastating
consequences for vulnerable populations in Africa. These policies increased inequality, reduced

access to basic services, and created conditions that in several cases contributed to social unrest

and violent conflict.

📌 Example: In Sierra Leone, economic marginalisation caused partly by structural adjustment

— rising youth unemployment, declining rural incomes, and cuts in public services —

contributed to the conditions that allowed the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) to recruit

disaffected youth into its brutal civil war (1991–2002). Paul Richards documented this

connection in Fighting for the Rain Forest (1996).

📌 Example: Zimbabwe's ESAP (Economic Structural Adjustment Programme, 1991–1995)

reduced real wages, cut health spending, and increased urban poverty. The resulting social

discontent contributed to rising political tensions, though Zimbabwe avoided open civil war

partly due to state repression.

1.3 Theories of Conflict

Attribution Theory

Attribution theory, drawn from social psychology, explains conflict in terms of how people

assign causes to events and behaviours. When an individual or group attributes another's hostile

behaviour to intentional malice or inherent character (rather than to circumstances), conflict

escalates. In-group/out-group dynamics mean that people tend to judge their own group's

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harmful actions as situational (forced by circumstances) while attributing the opponent's actions

to malicious intent or inferior character.

In conflict settings, attribution errors sustain cycles of retaliation. Each side believes it is

responding defensively to the other's aggression. Breaking this cycle requires creating conditions

for re-attribution — helping parties understand the other's perspective and the situational

pressures they face.

📌 Example: In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, each side tends to attribute its own violence as

defensive and the other's as aggression. This mutual misattribution sustains the cycle of

violence and makes negotiated resolution extremely difficult.

Equity Theory

Equity theory holds that conflict arises when individuals or groups perceive that the distribution

of resources, opportunities, or outcomes is unfair — that they are not receiving what they

deserve relative to others. This perceived inequity generates grievances that can fuel collective

action, protest, and violent conflict.

The relative deprivation thesis (Ted Gurr, Why Men Rebel, 1970) is closely related: people rebel

not necessarily because they are absolutely poor, but because they perceive a gap between what

they have and what they feel they deserve. Rising expectations combined with blocked

opportunities are particularly dangerous.

📌 Example: The Arab Spring (2010–2011) illustrates equity theory powerfully. In Tunisia,

Egypt, Libya, and Syria, widespread perceptions of economic inequality, corruption, and

political exclusion — rather than absolute poverty alone — drove mass protests. In Syria, what

began as protests escalated into a devastating civil war that has killed over 500,000 people and

displaced millions.

Transformational Theory

Transformational theory, associated with scholars like John Paul Lederach, views conflict not as

something to be resolved and ended, but as a potentially constructive force that can drive social

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transformation. Conflicts expose injustices, challenge oppressive structures, and create

opportunities for fundamental change in relationships and systems.

This approach underpins much of contemporary peacebuilding practice, which focuses not

merely on stopping violence but on transforming the underlying relationships, structures, and

cultures that generate it. Conflict transformation involves addressing root causes, building

inclusive institutions, and fostering reconciliation.

📌 Example: South Africa's transition from apartheid exemplifies conflict transformation. The

negotiated end to apartheid and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) process

represented an attempt to transform a deeply unjust social order rather than simply end

violence, though significant structural inequalities persist.

1.4 Causes of Conflict: Economic Roots

Economic explanations of conflict have gained prominence since the 1990s, particularly through

the work of Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler. Their greed versus grievance debate argues that civil

wars are more often driven by opportunities for economic predation (greed) than by genuine

political grievances. Where natural resources — particularly 'lootable' resources like alluvial

diamonds, oil, or timber — are accessible, armed groups have both the motive and the means to

sustain conflict.

The Resource Curse thesis holds that countries with abundant natural resources, particularly oil

and minerals, often experience poorer development outcomes, weaker governance, and higher

rates of conflict than resource-poor countries. Resource wealth creates incentives for capture of

the state and finances rebel movements.

Relative deprivation, horizontal inequalities (inequalities between identity groups rather than

individuals), and youth unemployment are also central economic causes. When young men —

particularly in rapidly urbanising developing countries — face unemployment and blocked

aspirations, they become vulnerable to recruitment into militias, rebel movements, or criminal

organisations.

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 📌 Example: The conflict in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) is profoundly shaped by

economic motivations. The eastern provinces contain vast deposits of coltan, gold, cassiterite,

and other minerals. Armed groups — including the FDLR, M23, and numerous local militias

— control mines as a primary source of revenue, sustaining conflict that has killed an

estimated 5–6 million people since 1996, making it the world's deadliest conflict since World

War II.

📌 Example: Sierra Leone's civil war (1991–2002) was fuelled partly by control of alluvial

diamond fields. The slogan 'blood diamonds' became internationally known through the film

Blood Diamond (2006), and the Kimberley Process was developed to certify conflict-free

diamond origins.

1.5 Types of Conflict

Interstate conflict refers to armed conflict between two or more sovereign states. While this was

the dominant form of war in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (World War I and II),

interstate wars have become rarer since 1945, partly due to nuclear deterrence and international

institutions.

Intrastate (civil) conflict refers to armed conflict within a state, between the government and one

or more non-state armed groups, or between non-state groups. This has been the dominant form

of armed conflict since 1945 and is particularly prevalent in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Identity-based conflicts are driven by divisions of ethnicity, religion, language, or race. They

often involve competing claims over territory, political power, or cultural recognition.

Resource-based conflicts are driven by competition over land, water, minerals, oil, or other

natural resources. Climate change is making resource-based conflict increasingly common as

water and arable land become scarcer.

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Proxy conflicts occur when external powers support opposing sides in a domestic conflict for

their own strategic interests. During the Cold War, the superpowers fuelled numerous proxy wars

across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

📌 Example: The Angolan civil war (1975–2002) was both an intrastate conflict and a Cold

War proxy war. The MPLA government was backed by the Soviet Union and Cuba, while

UNITA rebels were supported by the United States and apartheid South Africa. When Cold

War funding dried up after 1989, both sides exploited oil and diamond revenues to continue

fighting for another decade.

1.6 Dynamics of Conflict

Conflict dynamics refer to the processes through which conflicts escalate, sustain themselves,

and potentially de-escalate. Understanding these dynamics is essential for designing effective

intervention strategies.

Escalation occurs when a conflict intensifies — more parties become involved, violence

increases in scale and brutality, and the conflict expands geographically. Grievances harden into

identities; moderates lose influence to extremists; and the conflict develops a self-sustaining

logic.

The security dilemma is a key concept: when one group arms itself for self-defence, others

perceive this as threatening and arm in response, producing a spiral of militarisation even if no

party originally intended conflict.

Spoilers are actors who benefit from conflict — economically, politically, or militarily — and

who therefore have incentives to undermine peace processes. Identifying and managing spoilers

is one of the central challenges of peacebuilding.

De-escalation requires changing the cost-benefit calculations of key actors, building trust through

confidence-building measures, and creating political space for negotiations. External mediators,

peacekeeping forces, and development assistance can all play roles.

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 📌 Example: The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda and Central Africa illustrates

complex conflict dynamics. What began as a northern Ugandan rebellion in the 1980s

transformed into a self-sustaining predatory movement sustained by abduction of child

soldiers, looting, and external support. Its leader, Joseph Kony, has remained a spoiler

resisting peace for decades.

1.7 Understanding Peace: Non-Violent Strategies

The tradition of non-violent resistance is one of the most important intellectual and practical

contributions to the study of conflict and peace. Several key thinkers and practitioners have
developed and applied non-violent strategies to achieve social and political change.

Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) developed the philosophy of Satyagraha ('truth-force' or 'soul-

force') as a method of non-violent resistance to oppression. Gandhi believed that non-violent

resistance was not passive submission but active, courageous confrontation of injustice through

morally superior means. Key tactics included non-cooperation with unjust laws, civil

disobedience, hunger strikes, boycotts, and mass marches.

Gandhi applied these principles in the Indian independence movement against British colonial

rule, most famously in the 1930 Salt March, in which he led a 240-mile march to the sea to

produce salt in defiance of British salt laws. His success demonstrated that organised non-violent

resistance could defeat a powerful colonial state.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) was an American philosopher who developed the

foundational theory of civil disobedience in his 1849 essay of the same name. Thoreau argued

that individuals have a moral obligation to refuse to comply with unjust laws and government

policies — that conscience must take precedence over legal obligation. He himself refused to pay

taxes in protest against slavery and the Mexican-American War, and was briefly imprisoned.

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Thoreau's ideas profoundly influenced Gandhi and, through Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and

the entire tradition of non-violent resistance.

Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), the Russian novelist, developed a radical philosophy of non-violence

rooted in Christian ethics. In The Kingdom of God is Within You (1894), Tolstoy argued that

violence is never justified and that governments maintained their power through organised

violence. He advocated complete non-resistance to evil through violence — refusing to serve in

armies, pay taxes for war, or participate in state violence of any kind. Tolstoy influenced Gandhi

directly, and the two corresponded.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) led the American Civil Rights Movement using Gandhian

non-violent resistance adapted to the context of racial segregation in the United States. King's

strategy included bus boycotts (Montgomery, 1955–1956), sit-ins, marches, and mass

demonstrations that exposed the violence of segregation to national and international audiences.

King articulated the philosophy of non-violent resistance in Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963),

arguing that non-violent direct action creates a 'crisis and tension' that forces a recalcitrant

society to confront the injustice it has been ignoring. His approach succeeded in winning

landmark civil rights legislation, including the Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act
(1965).

💡 Key Note: The common thread running through Gandhi, Thoreau, Tolstoy, and King is the

belief that non-violent resistance is not weakness but a morally and strategically superior

approach to confronting injustice — one that can win by exposing the moral bankruptcy of

oppressors.

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SECTION 2: CONFLICTS IN AFRICA — AN OVERVIEW
2.1 Dominant Discourse of Conflict in Africa

Western media and academic discourse has often portrayed African conflicts as the product of

ancient ethnic hatreds, tribal barbarism, or inherent African pathology. This 'ancient hatreds'

narrative frames conflict as primordial — as if African peoples have always been at war and

cannot help themselves.

This discourse is profoundly misleading and politically dangerous. It obscures the historical,
structural, and political roots of African conflicts — particularly the role of colonialism in

creating artificial states, manipulating ethnic identities, and establishing extractive economic

structures. It also denies African agency in both generating and resolving conflict, and implicitly

justifies continued external intervention.

A more accurate understanding recognises that most contemporary African conflicts have roots

in colonial-era policies, post-independence governance failures, Cold War proxy wars, structural

economic exclusion, and competition over resources — not in immutable ethnic or cultural

characteristics.

💡 Key Note: The 'new barbarism' thesis associated with Robert Kaplan's Coming Anarchy

(1994) is a prominent example of this problematic discourse. It was widely criticised by Africa

scholars for its reductive and deterministic portrayal of African conflict.

2.2 Institutional Thinking on Causes of Conflicts in Africa

Major international institutions — the World Bank, United Nations, African Union, and

academic centres like the Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE) at Oxford — have

developed substantial bodies of research on the causes of African conflicts.

Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler's influential research for the World Bank identified statistical

correlates of civil war onset. Their key finding was that economic variables — particularly

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dependence on primary commodity exports, low income, and slow economic growth — were

stronger predictors of civil war than political grievances such as ethnic diversity or inequality.

This 'feasibility hypothesis' argues that civil war is more likely where it is financially and

militarily feasible for armed groups to sustain themselves.

The World Bank's 2011 World Development Report: Conflict, Security, and Development

represented a landmark institutional statement. It argued that repeated cycles of violence are the

central challenge for development, and that strengthening legitimate institutions and addressing

grievances — rather than purely military responses — is essential for breaking these cycles.

The African Union's peace and security architecture, including the African Peace and Security

Architecture (APSA) and mechanisms like the African Standby Force, represent regional

institutional efforts to manage conflict.

2.3 Mainstream Thinking: Kofi Annan and the African Peace Agenda

Kofi Annan (1938–2018), the Ghanaian diplomat who served as UN Secretary-General from

1997 to 2006, was one of the most influential voices on conflict, peace, and development in

Africa. His tenure was defined by efforts to strengthen UN peacekeeping, promote the

Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, and link security with development.

Annan's concept of human security — developed through the UN Secretary-General's reports

and the Brahimi Report on peacekeeping reform — emphasised that security is not only about

states but about the protection of individuals. Development, he argued, cannot be achieved

without security, and security without development is unsustainable.

Annan's landmark report In Larger Freedom (2005) presented an integrated agenda: 'we will not

enjoy development without security, we will not enjoy security without development, and we

will not enjoy either without respect for human rights.'

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Annan also played a critical personal role in mediating post-election violence in Kenya (2007–

2008), leading the African Union Panel of Eminent African Personalities that negotiated a

power-sharing agreement, averting what could have become a catastrophic conflict.

📌 Example: Kenya's 2007–2008 post-election violence killed over 1,500 people and displaced

600,000. Kofi Annan's mediation led to the National Accord and Reconciliation Act (2008),

creating a power-sharing government. This case demonstrates the importance of high-level

diplomatic intervention in preventing escalating violence.

2.4 Identity-Based Conflicts

Identity-based conflicts are driven by perceived threats to group identity — whether ethnic,

religious, linguistic, or racial. Parties to these conflicts organise around and mobilise shared

identity markers, framing the conflict as an existential struggle for group survival.

Colonial-era policies are particularly important in understanding African identity-based conflicts.

European colonisers often used a strategy of divide and rule, elevating particular ethnic groups to

positions of privilege while marginalising others, and in some cases creating or hardening ethnic

boundaries that had previously been more fluid. The drawing of colonial borders without regard

for ethnic or cultural geography meant that many African states inherited built-in tensions.

📌 Example: The Rwandan Genocide (1994) is the most devastating example of identity-based

conflict in Africa. Belgian colonial administrators introduced identity cards classifying

Rwandans as Hutu or Tutsi, institutionalising and rigidifying what had been more fluid social

distinctions. Post-independence politics became increasingly ethnicised. In 100 days between

April and July 1994, Hutu extremists massacred approximately 800,000 Tutsi and moderate

Hutu. The genocide demonstrated that identity-based violence, once unleashed and organised,

can become catastrophically efficient.

📌 Example: The conflict in Darfur, Sudan (2003–present) involves both identity dimensions —

Arab versus African communities — and resource dimensions — competition over land and

water in an increasingly arid environment. The Janjaweed militias, backed by the Sudanese

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 government under Omar al-Bashir, carried out systematic attacks on the Fur, Masalit, and

Zaghawa communities. Over 300,000 people died and 2.5 million were displaced. The

International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for al-Bashir for genocide — the first

ICC warrant for a sitting head of state.

2.5 Resource-Based Conflicts

Africa's vast natural resource wealth has paradoxically been a source of conflict rather than

development in many cases. The 'resource curse' thesis holds that resource abundance —

particularly oil, minerals, and timber — is associated with weaker governance, greater
corruption, and higher rates of violent conflict.

The mechanisms are multiple. Resource rents reduce state accountability to citizens

(governments need not tax citizens if they have oil revenue). Resource rents finance patronage

networks that sustain authoritarian rule. Lucrative resources attract armed groups who seek to

capture and control them. And resource revenue fluctuations create macroeconomic instability.

Water is increasingly recognised as a conflict resource in Africa. Population growth,

urbanisation, agricultural intensification, and climate change are increasing pressure on already-

scarce water resources across the continent, particularly in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and

Southern Africa.

📌 Example: The Niger Delta conflict in Nigeria involves competition over oil resources

between the Nigerian state, multinational oil companies (Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil), and

communities in the Delta who have received little benefit from oil extraction while bearing its

environmental costs. Movements like MOSOP (Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni

People), led by Ken Saro-Wiwa before his execution in 1995, and later armed groups like

MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta), reflect deep grievances over

resource exploitation and environmental destruction.

📌 Example: The Nile River Basin is an emerging theatre of resource-based tension. Ethiopia's

construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the largest hydroelectric dam

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in Africa, has generated serious conflict with Egypt and Sudan, who fear reductions in Nile

water flow. While this tension has not yet become violent, it illustrates how water scarcity can

generate interstate conflict.

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SECTION 3: RELIGION, PEACE AND CONFLICT
3.1 Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilisations

Samuel Huntington's The Clash of Civilisations and the Remaking of World Order (1996) is one

of the most controversial and influential works in international relations theory. Huntington

argued that the fundamental source of conflict in the post-Cold War world would no longer be

ideological (capitalism vs. communism) but civilisational. He identified eight major civilisations

— Western, Orthodox, Islamic, Hindu, Sinic, Japanese, Latin American, and African — and
predicted that the most dangerous conflicts would occur along the fault lines between them,

particularly between Islam and the West.

Huntington's thesis has been widely criticised. Critics argue that it essentialises and homogenises

complex civilisations, ignores conflicts within civilisations, overlooks economic and political

causes of conflict, and creates a self-fulfilling prophecy by framing Muslims as inherently in

conflict with the West.

Despite its limitations, the framework remains influential in policy debates, particularly in the

context of the 'War on Terror' following September 11, 2001. Post-9/11 US foreign policy drew

heavily on civilisational framing.

💡 Key Note: For a critical analysis, students should be able to summarise Huntington's

argument, explain why it has been influential, and articulate the key critiques — particularly

its essentialism and its neglect of intra-civilisational conflict and political economy.

3.2 Religion as a Cause of Conflict

Religion can be a cause, or at least a justification, of conflict in several ways. Religious identities

can become politicised, with competing groups using religious affiliation as a mobilising frame.

Religious institutions can give legitimacy to violence through doctrines of just war, holy war, or

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divine mandate. And religious extremism — the belief that violence is divinely sanctioned —

can motivate acts of extraordinary brutality.

However, it is important to avoid reducing complex conflicts to religious causes alone. In

virtually every 'religious' conflict, political, economic, and historical factors are equally or more

important. Religion typically functions as a mobilising identity and legitimating frame rather

than as the root cause.

📌 Example: The conflict in Northern Ireland (the Troubles, 1968–1998) was framed as

Catholic versus Protestant but was fundamentally about political identity (Irish nationalism vs.

British unionism), sovereignty, and economic discrimination against the Catholic community.

Religion provided identity markers but was not the underlying cause.

📌 Example: Boko Haram (meaning 'Western education is forbidden' in Hausa) in Nigeria and

the Lake Chad Basin has used an extremist Islamist ideology to justify mass violence, including

kidnapping (the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls abduction), bombings, and mass murder. However,

the movement also draws on deep northern Nigerian grievances about economic

marginalisation, unemployment, and poor governance — structural factors that predated the

religious framing.

3.3 Church-Based Organisations and Peace

Religious organisations and faith-based institutions have also been powerful forces for peace,

reconciliation, and development. Churches, mosques, and other faith institutions often have the

community trust, moral authority, and grassroots reach that secular organisations lack.

In post-conflict settings, faith-based organisations have played important roles in trauma healing,

reconciliation, inter-community dialogue, and service delivery. Their moral authority can

sometimes reach across conflict lines where political actors cannot.

📌 Example: The Community of Sant'Egidio, a Catholic lay organisation based in Rome, played

a crucial role in mediating the end of the Mozambican civil war (1977–1992). The General

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 Peace Agreement signed in Rome in 1992, mediated largely by Sant'Egidio, ended a

devastating 15-year conflict and paved the way for successful elections and reconstruction.

📌 Example: In Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches and the Catholic Commission

for Justice and Peace (CCJP) have played important roles in documenting human rights

abuses (including the 1983–1987 Gukurahundi massacres in Matabeleland) and advocating for

reconciliation and justice.

3.4 Fundamentalism

Religious fundamentalism refers to movements that advocate a strict, literal interpretation of

religious texts and a return to perceived foundational principles of a religion. Fundamentalism is

not inherently violent — many fundamentalist movements pursue their goals through peaceful

means. However, when fundamentalism combines with political marginalisation, a theology that

sanctions violence, and effective organisational capacity, it can generate extremely dangerous

armed movements.

Jihadist fundamentalism, Evangelical Christian nationalism, Hindu nationalism (Hindutva), and

ultra-Orthodox Jewish movements are all forms of religious fundamentalism with varying

propensities for violence. The political contexts in which they operate are critical determinants of

whether they turn violent.

3.5 Terrorism and Conflict

Terrorism is the deliberate use of violence against civilian populations to create fear and coerce

political change. It is a tactic rather than an ideology — it can be used by groups across the

political and religious spectrum.

Global terrorism has been significantly shaped since 2001 by al-Qaeda and its affiliates, and later

by the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL). These movements have combined religious extremism with

sophisticated organisational capacity and media strategies to generate violence across multiple

continents.

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In Africa, terrorist violence has been most intense in the Sahel (where al-Qaeda in the Islamic

Maghreb/AQIM and ISIS-linked groups operate), the Lake Chad Basin (Boko Haram and

ISWAP), the Horn of Africa (Al-Shabaab in Somalia and Kenya), and Mozambique's Cabo

Delgado province (ISIL-Mozambique, known locally as Al-Shabaab).

📌 Example: Al-Shabaab in Somalia emerged from the collapse of the Somali state and the

failure of successive peace processes. It has controlled significant parts of southern Somalia,

imposed harsh governance, and carried out major terrorist attacks including the 2013

Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi (67 killed) and the 2017 Mogadishu truck bombing (500+

killed). Its persistence demonstrates how state fragility provides conditions for terrorist

movements to flourish.

📌 Example: In Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province, an insurgency linked to ISIL began in

2017 and has killed over 4,000 people and displaced nearly 800,000. Significantly, the conflict

coincides with major natural gas discoveries in the region, illustrating the intersection of

religious extremism and resource conflict.

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SECTION 4: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, HUMAN SECURITY
AND CONFLICT PREVENTION
4.1 The Nexus between Poverty and Conflict: Amartya Sen's Entitlement Approach

The relationship between poverty and conflict is bidirectional and complex. Poverty can

contribute to conflict by generating grievances, reducing the opportunity cost of joining armed

groups, and weakening state capacity to prevent or resolve violence. Conflict, in turn, creates

poverty by destroying assets, disrupting livelihoods, displacing populations, and undermining

governance.

Amartya Sen's Entitlement Approach, developed primarily in Poverty and Famines (1981) and

Development as Freedom (1999), provides a powerful framework for understanding how poverty

and deprivation occur not simply due to a lack of food or resources but due to failures of

entitlement — the legal and social rights people have to command resources.

Sen shows that famines, for example, often occur not because food is unavailable in the

aggregate but because poor people lack the entitlements to access it — they cannot afford to buy

food, or their assets have been destroyed, or social protections have collapsed. This analysis has

profound implications for conflict: when people's entitlements are systematically undermined by

conflict, economic exclusion, or discriminatory policies, they become both vulnerable and

potentially dangerous.

Horizontal inequalities — inequalities between politically relevant groups, particularly ethnic or

religious groups — are a key mechanism linking poverty to conflict. When one group perceives

that another group enjoys systematically greater access to jobs, education, political power, and

resources, grievances accumulate that can erupt into violence.

📌 Example: Frances Stewart's research on horizontal inequalities has shown that countries

with large economic gaps between ethnic or religious groups — such as Côte d'Ivoire before its

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 civil conflicts, or pre-genocide Rwanda — are at significantly higher risk of violent conflict

than countries with broadly similar levels of inequality distributed evenly across groups.

4.2 The Nexus between Disease and Conflict

Armed conflict and disease are deeply interlinked. Conflict destroys health infrastructure,

displaces populations into crowded camps with poor sanitation, disrupts supply chains for

medicines and equipment, and prevents health workers from operating safely. These conditions

are ideal for the spread of infectious disease.

Conversely, disease epidemics can contribute to conflict by killing or incapacitating labour

forces, reducing agricultural productivity, generating economic stress and social tension, and

undermining state legitimacy when governments fail to respond effectively.

HIV/AIDS has been particularly significant in conflict-affected regions of sub-Saharan Africa.

The presence of armed forces, mass displacement, sexual violence as a weapon of war, and the

breakdown of health services all dramatically increase HIV transmission rates in conflict zones.

The DRC, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic have among the highest HIV

prevalence rates in the world, all in the context of prolonged conflict.

📌 Example: The 2014–2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia)

killed over 11,000 people and exposed the catastrophic state of health systems in countries that

had experienced decades of conflict. Sierra Leone's health system, devastated by its 10-year

civil war, had minimal capacity to mount an effective epidemic response. Foreign health

workers — including MSF — played a critical role, illustrating how conflict-induced health

system collapse creates vulnerability to health crises far into the post-conflict period.

📌 Example: In the DRC, conflict has enabled the resurgence of neglected tropical diseases —

sleeping sickness, cholera, and measles — that had been controlled before fighting renewed. A

2006 study in The Lancet estimated that 5.4 million excess deaths occurred in the DRC

between 1998 and 2007, the vast majority from disease and malnutrition rather than direct

violence.

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4.3 The Nexus between Hunger and Conflict

Hunger and conflict are mutually reinforcing. Conflict disrupts agricultural production by

displacing farmers, destroying crops and livestock, blocking access to fields, and disrupting

market chains. The resulting food insecurity increases vulnerability, desperation, and dependence

on armed actors for food access — fuelling further conflict dynamics.

The FAO has documented that the majority of the world's chronically food insecure people live

in conflict-affected states. As of 2022, conflict was the leading driver of acute food insecurity

globally, affecting over 117 million people in 19 countries.

Conversely, hunger can drive people into armed groups where food is provided. In many

conflicts, feeding hungry recruits is an explicit strategy for building fighting forces. Siege

warfare — deliberately starving civilian populations — has been used as a weapon of war in

Syria, Yemen, and Sudan.

📌 Example: In Yemen, a civil war that began in 2015 between the Houthi movement and the

Saudi-led coalition has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. The UN

estimated in 2021 that approximately 17 million people — over half the population — faced

acute food insecurity, with a famine-like situation in several areas. The conflict has destroyed

food production, blocked port access (through which 90% of Yemen's food was imported), and

damaged water and sanitation infrastructure.

📌 Example: In South Sudan, renewed conflict following the 2013 political crisis triggered

famine conditions formally declared in 2017 — the first famine declaration in Africa in six

years. Agricultural displacement and disruption to food assistance pushed millions to the brink

of starvation.

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SECTION 5: CLIMATE CHANGE AND CONFLICT
5.1 Climate Change as a Conflict Driver

Climate change is increasingly recognised as a significant driver of conflict, particularly in

regions already stressed by poverty, weak governance, and inter-group tensions. Rising

temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, increasing frequency of extreme weather events

(droughts, floods, cyclones), and sea-level rise threaten agricultural systems, water availability,

and coastal livelihoods — generating displacement, competition, and grievance.

Climate change operates as a threat multiplier — it does not directly cause conflict but amplifies

existing risks. Where institutions are strong, where inter-group relationships are cooperative, and

where adaptive capacity is high, the same climatic stresses may be managed without violence.

Where institutions are weak and grievances are deep, climate shocks can trigger conflict.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has increasingly emphasised the

security dimensions of climate change. Its reports link climate variability to increased risk of

civil conflict, particularly in low-income countries with limited adaptive capacity.

5.2 The Sahel Region: A Critical Case Study

The Sahel — the semi-arid belt stretching across Africa from Senegal in the west to Eritrea in the
east, including Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and Sudan — is considered the world's most

climate-vulnerable region for conflict. It has experienced a complex interaction of climatic stress,

population growth, governance failure, jihadist insurgency, and inter-communal violence.

The Lake Chad Basin illustrates these dynamics starkly. Lake Chad has shrunk by approximately

90% since the 1960s due to reduced rainfall, increased temperatures, and over-extraction for

irrigation. The communities that depended on the lake for fishing, farming, and pastoralism have

lost their livelihoods, creating conditions of desperation that Boko Haram has exploited for

recruitment.

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Farmer-herder conflicts across the Sahel have intensified as climate change reduces the

availability of pasture and water, forcing pastoralists to move further south into farming

communities. These clashes — over land, water, and livestock — have killed thousands in

Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

📌 Example: In Mali, the 2012 crisis involved three overlapping dynamics: a military coup, a

Tuareg rebellion in the north, and a jihadist takeover of northern cities. Underlying all of these

was the severe impact of recurrent droughts on Tuareg and other pastoral livelihoods in the

north, creating conditions of desperation and alienation from the Malian state. French military

intervention (Operation Serval, later Barkhane) suppressed the immediate jihadist threat but

did not address the structural drivers. By 2022, France had withdrawn its forces amid

deteriorating security and a new military coup.

📌 Example: In Burkina Faso, what was one of West Africa's most stable countries has

descended into severe conflict since 2015. Jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIS have

exploited inter-ethnic tensions between farmers and herders, deepened by climate-driven

competition for land and water. By 2023, Burkina Faso had the world's fastest-growing

displacement crisis, with over 2 million internally displaced persons.

📌 Example: Cyclone Idai (March 2019) struck Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe, killing

over 1,300 people and affecting 3 million. In Zimbabwe, the Chimanimani district was

devastated. While Idai was a natural disaster rather than a conflict, it illustrates the

vulnerability of Southern African countries to climate-related shocks and the development

setbacks they cause — particularly for the poor.

5.3 Climate Change and Water Conflict

Water stress is among the most immediate and dangerous pathways through which climate

change drives conflict. The IPCC projects that water availability will decrease significantly

across the Sahel, Southern Africa, and the Middle East over the coming decades, intensifying

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competition between agricultural users, pastoralists, urban populations, and countries sharing

river basins.

The Blue Nile, Niger, Congo, and Zambezi river basins are all potential sites of increasing water-

related tension. Southern Africa faces particularly acute challenges, with Zimbabwe, Zambia,

and Botswana all heavily dependent on the Zambezi River system and already experiencing

increased drought frequency.

📌 Example: The conflict between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan over the Grand Ethiopian

Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile is a live example of climate-exacerbated resource

conflict. Ethiopia argues the dam is essential for development and energy production; Egypt

fears a reduction in Nile water flows that could threaten its agriculture and political stability.

Negotiations have repeatedly broken down, and Egypt has described the dam as an 'existential

threat.'

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SECTION 6: DEVELOPMENT AID AND CONFLICT
6.1 Development Aid, NGOs, and Conflict Prevention

Development aid — financial transfers and technical assistance from donor countries and

international organisations to developing countries — is intended to promote development and,

increasingly, to prevent and resolve conflict. The relationship between aid and conflict, however,

is complex and contested.

Aid can contribute to conflict prevention by addressing the poverty, inequality, and grievances
that underlie conflict; by strengthening governance and institutional capacity; and by supporting

peacebuilding programmes. However, aid can also fuel conflict by providing resources that

armed actors can capture, by sustaining corrupt governments, by distorting local economies, and

by undermining local institutions.

NGOs operating in conflict zones face acute dilemmas. They provide essential humanitarian

assistance — food, water, medicine, shelter — to conflict-affected populations. But in doing so,

they may inadvertently sustain the conflict by feeding combatants (who benefit from having

civilians fed by NGOs), generating income for armed groups (through taxation of aid convoys),

and enabling governments to avoid addressing root causes.

📌 Example: During the Ethiopian famine (1983–1985), humanitarian aid was partially

captured by the Derg regime, which controlled access to food-affected areas and used aid

distribution as a tool for population control and counter-insurgency. The 'politics of famine'

documented by Alex de Waal showed how aid intended for famine victims served political and

military purposes.

📌 Example: In Somalia, during the 1990s humanitarian operation (Operation Restore Hope,

1992–1994), US military intervention combined with aid operations demonstrated the tensions

between humanitarian principles and political/military agendas. The Black Hawk Down

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 incident (1993) led to US withdrawal and a lesson widely drawn — incorrectly — that African

conflicts are too complex for international intervention.

6.2 The Morality of Aid

The moral case for development aid rests on principles of human solidarity, global justice, and

the obligations of wealthy countries toward those they have historically exploited through

colonialism and unfair trade. Peter Singer's utilitarian argument holds that if wealthy individuals

and nations can prevent terrible suffering at relatively low cost, they are morally obligated to do

so.

Critics challenge this position from several directions. Dependency theorists argue that aid

perpetuates rather than resolves underdevelopment by substituting for domestic resource

mobilisation and genuine structural reform. Dambisa Moyo's Dead Aid (2009) argued that

decades of aid have entrenched poverty and governance failure in Africa by reducing

accountability of governments to their own citizens.

A more nuanced position recognises that aid is neither inherently good nor inherently bad — its

effects depend on the modalities of delivery, the governance context, the conditionalities

attached, and the priorities of donor and recipient. Humanitarian emergency aid — responding to

famine, conflict, and disaster — has a stronger moral and practical justification than long-term

budget support to poorly governed states.

6.3 Neutrality in Aid

Humanitarian organisations traditionally operate on the principle of neutrality — providing

assistance based solely on need, without taking sides in conflicts. The International Committee

of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been the most committed proponent of strict neutrality, believing

that only neutral actors can access all parties to a conflict and thereby reach all affected

populations.

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However, neutrality has been challenged in practice. In situations of genocide or mass atrocity,

some argue that strict neutrality is morally untenable — that remaining neutral between victims

and perpetrators effectively sides with perpetrators by enabling them to continue killing without

interference.

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, endorsed by the UN General Assembly in 2005,

represents a fundamental challenge to traditional state sovereignty and neutrality frameworks.

R2P holds that when states fail to protect their citizens from mass atrocities — genocide, war

crimes, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity — the international community has a
responsibility to intervene.

📌 Example: The MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders) model of

'témoignage' (bearing witness) represents a middle position — while providing aid neutrally,

MSF reserves the right to publicly denounce atrocities. This led MSF to withdraw from

Afghanistan in 2004 after the killing of five staff members, and to publicly criticise the

Rwandan government for violence in DRC refugee camps.

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SECTION 7: ECONOMICS OF WAR AND PEACE
7.1 Military Expenditure and Conflict in Africa

Military expenditure — the resources allocated to armed forces, weapons, and security services

— represents one of the most direct economic manifestations of conflict. High military spending

in developing countries diverts scarce resources from health, education, and infrastructure, with

significant opportunity costs for development.

Africa's Missing Billions, a 2007 report by Oxfam, IANSA, and Saferworld, estimated that
armed conflict cost Africa approximately US$18 billion per year in direct and indirect costs —

roughly equivalent to the aid Africa received annually at that time. This figure encompasses the

direct costs of military operations, the economic losses from destroyed productive capacity, the

costs of treating war-wounded, and the long-term effects on investment and growth.

Small arms and light weapons (SALWs) are a particular concern. Africa is awash in cheap,

easily available weapons — AK-47s, RPGs, landmines — many of which were supplied during

Cold War proxy conflicts and continue to circulate. These weapons lower the cost of conflict and

contribute to the perpetuation of violence long after formal peace agreements.

📌 Example: In Somalia, the collapse of the state in 1991 left enormous quantities of weapons

uncontrolled. Two decades of weapons inflows — from regional neighbours, international

actors, and piracy revenues — created a saturated small arms environment that has sustained

multiple armed factions and made disarmament extraordinarily difficult.

7.2 Peace Economics and Development

Peace economics examines the economic dimensions of peace — the costs of conflict, the

economic benefits of peace, and the policies that can create sustainable peace through economic

means. The field recognises that peace is not merely the absence of war but an economic

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condition characterised by stable property rights, functioning markets, productive employment,

and sustainable fiscal systems.

The economic dividends of peace are substantial. Post-conflict recovery — when successful —

typically involves a 'peace dividend' in which economic growth recovers, investment returns, and

human development indicators improve. Paul Collier estimated that each year of peace adds

approximately 2.4% to economic growth rates in post-conflict countries.

Building a peace economy requires: security sector reform to reduce military spending and

redirect resources to development; economic reintegration of ex-combatants; reconstruction of

infrastructure; re-establishment of property rights and contract enforcement; and creation of

employment opportunities, particularly for youth.

📌 Example: Mozambique's post-conflict economic recovery after the 1992 peace agreement is

one of Africa's most cited success stories. GDP growth averaged over 7% annually through the

1990s and 2000s, driven by infrastructure reconstruction, agricultural recovery, and

significant donor support. Poverty rates fell substantially. However, recent conflicts in Cabo

Delgado and the discovery of natural gas threaten to introduce the resource curse dynamic

into what had been a development success.

7.3 The Nexus between Democracy and Peace Economics

Democratic peace theory holds that democracies rarely go to war with each other — that

democratic governance structures create incentives for peaceful dispute resolution and economic

interdependence that reduce the appeal of military conflict. This theory has considerable

empirical support at the interstate level.

However, the relationship between democracy and peace within states — particularly in

developing countries — is more complicated. The process of democratisation can itself generate

conflict: competitive elections mobilise ethnic and regional identities, losers may reject results,

and weak democratic institutions may be incapable of managing the tensions that multiparty

competition unleashes.

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Anocracies — partial democracies that are neither fully authoritarian nor fully democratic —

have been found to be at the highest risk of civil conflict. This suggests that the transition to

democracy is itself a dangerous period, and that building the institutional foundations of

democracy — an independent judiciary, civil liberties, free press, functioning parliament — is as

important as holding elections.

📌 Example: Zimbabwe's post-2000 experience illustrates the dangers of hybrid

authoritarianism. The introduction of multi-party competition and civil society pressure in the

late 1990s provoked a violent backlash from the ZANU-PF government — farm seizures, state-

sponsored violence by the youth militias (Green Bombers), and electoral fraud — rather than

genuine democratic transition. The economy collapsed, and political violence peaked during

the 2008 elections, when MDC supporters were systematically targeted.

📌 Example: Botswana represents a contrasting case. A stable multiparty democracy since

independence in 1966, Botswana has achieved sustained economic growth (largely through

diamond revenues), relatively low corruption by African standards, and social development

gains. The democratic peace argument suggests that Botswana's institutional stability has been

both a product and a cause of its relative peace and prosperity.

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SECTION 8: THE GLOBAL PEACE INDEX
8.1 What is the Global Peace Index?

The Global Peace Index (GPI) is an annual measurement of the relative peacefulness of nations

and regions produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), an Australian think tank.

First published in 2008, the GPI ranks 163 countries representing 99.7% of the world's

population on a composite index of peace indicators.

The GPI operates on the understanding that peace is not simply the absence of war but a positive,
measurable condition with social, economic, and political dimensions. It is based on the concept

of Positive Peace — the attitudes, institutions, and structures that create and sustain peaceful

societies.

8.2 The Eight Pillars of Positive Peace

The IEP has identified eight pillars of Positive Peace — the building blocks that research

suggests are most strongly associated with peaceful, resilient, and flourishing societies. These

pillars are not merely descriptors of peace; they are the enabling conditions that prevent conflict

and allow development to occur.

Well-functioning government: governance that is effective, accountable, and transparent, and

that delivers public services equitably. Without functioning institutions, societies are vulnerable

to conflict.

Sound business environment: an economic system with low levels of corruption, functioning

contract enforcement, and opportunities for productive private sector activity.

Equitable distribution of resources: a society in which resources and opportunities are distributed

sufficiently equitably to prevent extreme deprivation and inter-group resentment.

Acceptance of the rights of others: respect for human rights, civil liberties, and minority rights,

which reduces the grievances that can fuel conflict.

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Good relations with neighbours: peaceful interstate relations that reduce the risk of external

conflict and allow economic integration.

Free flow of information: media freedom and access to information that enables accountability,

informed decision-making, and social trust.

High levels of human capital: investment in education and health that builds the capabilities of

populations, reduces poverty, and enables productive economic activity.

Low levels of corruption: corruption undermines all other pillars — it erodes trust in institutions,

misallocates resources, and generates grievances.

💡 Key Note: Students should be able to recall and explain all eight pillars and apply them to

specific country cases. Which pillars does Zimbabwe score highest/lowest on? What do these

scores suggest about Zimbabwe's vulnerability to conflict?

8.3 Measuring Peace: Indicators in the GPI

The GPI uses 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators grouped into three domains: Societal

Safety and Security (including homicide rates, political instability, violent crime, and

incarceration rates), Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict (including number of deaths

from external and internal conflicts, intensity of organised conflict), and Militarisation (including

military expenditure as a percentage of GDP, number of armed services personnel, and access to

weapons).

A lower GPI score indicates higher peacefulness. Iceland has consistently ranked first (most

peaceful) since the index began. The bottom of the rankings is typically occupied by Yemen,

Syria, Afghanistan, and South Sudan — all states experiencing severe armed conflict.

8.4 Importance and Criticism of the GPI

The GPI is important because it provides a standardised, annually updated measure of

peacefulness that enables cross-country comparison and trend analysis. It draws policymakers'

attention to the economic costs of violence and the economic benefits of peace. The IEP's

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research suggests that the global economic impact of violence was approximately US$17.5

trillion in 2022 — equivalent to 12.9% of global GDP.

Criticisms of the GPI are significant. It is argued that the index is biased toward measuring

negative peace (absence of violence) rather than positive peace, despite the IEP's emphasis on

the latter. Data quality in conflict-affected states is poor, making rankings unreliable. The choice

of indicators reflects particular assumptions about what constitutes peace that may not apply

universally. And the index cannot capture informal violence — gender-based violence, structural

violence, and everyday insecurity — that does not appear in official crime or conflict statistics.

📌 Example: Zimbabwe has ranked in the lower half of the GPI in recent years, reflecting

concerns about political instability, state repression, and weak governance — even in the

absence of open armed conflict. This underscores the index's ability to capture fragility that

may not be visible in headline conflict statistics.

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SECTION 9: POST-CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION
9.1 Overview of Post-Conflict Reconstruction

Post-conflict reconstruction refers to the processes through which societies transition from war to

peace and rebuild their political, economic, social, and security systems. It is one of the most

complex and demanding tasks in development practice. Success requires simultaneous action on

multiple fronts — security, governance, economic recovery, and social reconciliation — under

conditions of extreme institutional weakness, resource scarcity, and fragile political settlements.

The 'liberal peacebuilding' paradigm, which dominated international post-conflict intervention

from the 1990s onwards, emphasised rapid democratisation, market liberalisation, and the rule of

law as the foundations for lasting peace. This approach has been significantly critiqued — for

imposing external templates that ignore local contexts, for prioritising quick-impact projects over

long-term institution-building, and for failing to address the underlying structural causes of

conflict.

More recent thinking emphasises 'hybrid' approaches that combine international support with

locally-owned processes, acknowledge the importance of informal and traditional institutions,

and recognise that post-conflict transitions are typically long, non-linear, and fragile.

9.2 Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DDR)

DDR is a core component of virtually every post-conflict reconstruction process. It refers to

three interlinked processes: Disarmament — the collection, documentation, control, and disposal

of small arms, ammunition, explosives, and light and heavy weapons; Demobilisation — the

formal and controlled discharge of active combatants from armed forces or groups; and

Reintegration — the process by which ex-combatants acquire civilian status and gain sustainable

employment and income.

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Successful DDR requires credible security guarantees for ex-combatants (otherwise they will not

disarm), adequate financial and social support during the transition, economic reintegration

opportunities (jobs, land, livelihoods), psychosocial support to address trauma, and political will

from all parties.

DDR processes frequently fail or fall short. Common problems include: insufficient funding, ex-

combatants re-arming when reintegration fails, exclusion of female combatants and 'bush wives,'

failure to address the needs of child soldiers, and spoiler groups who refuse to participate.

📌 Example: Mozambique's post-war DDR (1992–1994) is considered one of the most

successful in African history. RENAMO fighters were demobilised through a UN-supervised

process (ONUMOZ), and over 90,000 ex-combatants received demobilisation grants and were

assisted with reintegration into civilian life. The relative success was due to political will,

adequate international funding, and community-based reintegration support.

📌 Example: In contrast, DDR in the DRC has repeatedly failed. Multiple DDR programmes

have been launched since the early 2000s, yet the DRC's eastern provinces remain saturated

with dozens of armed groups. Failures stem from lack of political will, inadequate funding, the

continued profitability of armed activity (mineral extraction), and the inability to offer ex-

combatants credible civilian alternatives.

9.3 Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)

Conflict is the primary driver of forced displacement worldwide. Refugees are persons who have

fled their country due to a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality,

political opinion, or membership of a particular social group, as defined in the 1951 Refugee

Convention. Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have been forced to flee their homes but remain

within their country's borders and are therefore not covered by the same international legal

protections as refugees.

As of 2023, the UNHCR recorded over 110 million forcibly displaced people globally — the

highest number ever recorded. Of these, approximately 36 million were refugees, 62 million

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were IDPs, and others were asylum seekers. The majority of the world's refugees are hosted in

developing countries — notably Turkey, Uganda, Colombia, and Pakistan — which bear a

disproportionate burden relative to their resources.

Durable solutions for refugees and IDPs include voluntary repatriation (return home when

conditions are safe), local integration (settling permanently in the country of asylum), and

resettlement to a third country. Voluntary repatriation is generally considered the most desirable

solution, but requires genuine stability and safety in the country of origin.

📌 Example: Uganda hosts over 1.5 million refugees — the largest refugee population in Africa

— primarily from South Sudan and DRC. Uganda's refugee settlement model is notable for

allowing refugees to access land, move freely, and work — a 'self-reliance' approach that

contrasts with camp-based systems and has received international recognition, though it is

under increasing strain from funding gaps and continued arrivals.

9.4 Child Soldiers

The recruitment and use of children in armed conflict is one of the most serious violations of

international humanitarian law and human rights law. The Optional Protocol to the Convention

on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (2000) prohibits the

use of children under 18 in hostilities.

Children are recruited into armed groups in multiple ways: abduction (the most widely

condemned), economic desperation, social pressure, and in some cases ideological conviction.

Once in armed groups, they are used as fighters, spies, cooks, porters, and sexual slaves. The

psychological and social damage inflicted is profound and long-lasting.

Reintegration of former child soldiers is an extraordinarily complex challenge. These children

have experienced extreme violence, perpetrated violence, been separated from families and

communities, and missed years of education. Effective reintegration requires psychosocial

support, community reconciliation processes, educational and vocational training, and family

reunification where possible.

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 📌 Example: The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda is the most internationally notorious

user of child soldiers. Joseph Kony's movement abducted over 30,000 children over three

decades, forcing boys to become fighters and girls to become 'wives' of commanders. The ICC

issued arrest warrants for LRA commanders including Kony (still at large as of 2025). The

'Invisible Children' advocacy campaign and Kony2012 video brought international attention to

the issue.

📌 Example: Sierra Leone's civil war (1991–2002) involved widespread use of child soldiers by

the RUF (Revolutionary United Front) and other factions. Post-war reintegration of an

estimated 6,000–10,000 former child soldiers was supported by UNICEF and multiple NGOs,

including through the Interim Care Centres programme that provided transitional care before

family reunification.

9.5 Stresses of War: Psychosocial Impacts

The psychological toll of war — on combatants, civilians, and communities — is immense and

long-lasting. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, grief, and substance

abuse are prevalent in conflict-affected populations. Children who grow up in conflict

environments experience disrupted development, impaired cognitive function, and difficulties

with trust and attachment.

Community-level impacts include breakdown of social trust, erosion of social norms, disruption

of traditional authority structures, and inter-generational transmission of trauma. Communities

that have experienced mass atrocities — genocide, ethnic cleansing, systematic sexual violence

— face particular challenges in rebuilding social cohesion.

Psychosocial support — from formal psychiatric services to community-based healing rituals,

peer support groups, and traditional reconciliation mechanisms — is an essential but often

underfunded component of post-conflict recovery. Indigenous healing practices, including

Gamba spirit possession rituals in Mozambique and ubuntu-based reconciliation processes in

southern Africa, can be important complements to formal psychosocial interventions.

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Transitional justice mechanisms — truth commissions, war crimes tribunals, reparations, and

memorialisation — are designed to address the legacy of past atrocities and support healing and

reconciliation at societal level. The best-known example is South Africa's Truth and

Reconciliation Commission (TRC, 1996–2003), which provided a public forum for testimony,

acknowledgement, and in some cases amnesty, contributing to — though not completing —

South Africa's post-apartheid healing process.

📌 Example: In Rwanda, the Gacaca courts — community-based traditional justice mechanisms

adapted for post-genocide justice — processed over 1.9 million cases between 2005 and 2012.

While imperfect and criticised for inconsistent standards, Gacaca achieved a scale of

accountability that the formal court system could never have managed, and contributed to

reconciliation by enabling communities to confront the truth of what had happened locally.

— END OF NOTES —
Conflict, Peace and Development | Midlands State University | Dr. Nciizah

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