ABSTRACT
Introduction: the case of transformative potential Earlier on in Chapters 3 and 4 it was shown how the active agency of the state through strategies, action and inaction undermined the structural foundation of the post-colonial economy and society. Man-made and natural calamities (drought) intensified such a process. As a result state capacity to manage and control flows in the economy and society were equally eroded. The post-Islamist ascendancy brought the crisis to its conclusion as the state relative autonomy was completely undermined. The state itself became a faction, albeit the largest, among the contending factions. In simple terms, this chapter states that war is not a natural calamity and as such changes produced by war are irreversible. It further suggests that understanding these changes from war is central to the understanding of potential challenges to post-war reconstruction both in terms of governance and sustainable economic and social rebuilding of war-torn communities. Understanding the changes triggered by both internal and external population flows that result from prolonged civil conflicts represents the single most important challenge to a successful reconstruction and peace-building effort at the end of war. As it was argued and concluded in Chapter 2, an alternative conceptual framework for analysing war-produced communities is needed. Such an alternative needs to go beyond the static notion of retrieving the pre-war situation. The framework elaborated before in Chapter 2 suggested that war and other forms of conflict that affect stable and secure human habitats trigger processes that result in the constant production of ‘irreversibilities’.
