ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a key challenge to building such an equitable post-conflict economic order: the role of informal actors and their efforts to exploit their political influence for private gain. It focuses on informal actors who act against the public interest for personal or group gain. The chapter describes how the conditions of the post-conflict moment allow informal actors to exploit their political connections for private gain. It will show that the international community's overriding desire for political stability, its liberalization policies, and its focus on capacity building can bolster the influence of informal actors at the expense of the public interest. The chapter has focused on the role of informal actors, defining what they are and establishing why they are critical to the post-conflict period. It then demonstrates how three key statebuilding policies stability, liberalization, and capacity building can actually strengthen informal actors and undermine the public interest.
