ABSTRACT
In recent history, civil wars have broken out exclusively in the developing world.1 According to the Correlates of War Project’s data sets, 103 civil wars were fought in developing countries from 1946 to 1997 (Sarkees 2000). This effect was especially heightened in the past 15 years, during which 80 percent of the world’s poorest countries have experienced a civil war (World Bank 2005). These statistics suggest that against their social and political backdrop, many developing countries have been trapped in a vicious circle of poverty and violence; poverty causes violence, violence causes more poverty, and the chain goes on. A corollary to this rule in the developing world is economic development as a solution to break away. If developing countries that have experienced civil wars successfully recover from war’s destruction and develop further, they are less likely to experience a recurrence of civil war.
