ABSTRACT
Moving from emergency response to development is crucial for putting states recovering from war on a path to a sustainable program of reconstruction. However, in the field, providers face numerous difficulties as they work with the local population and authorities to navigate this transition. Challenges include the nature of the political economy of war and its implications for post-war development. As Carolyn Nordstrom (2004) and other scholars have documented, war economies involve illicit actors and the economic activity of “shadow sovereigns” that structure the context of post-war development. There is a growing body of research that examines the complex arena of actors involved and how they are networked. The mix of actors spans governments of developing countries, Western governments, intergovernmental organizations and donors, INGOs and NGOs, corporate actors, and both state and private militaries and rebel forces.
