ABSTRACT
The international literature has been concerned during the past few years with the differences that exist between post-conflict reconstruction and economic development. Economic development typically involves working within the given political and economic structure to bring about growth. Post-conflict reconstruction, in contrast, involves a drastic change—often a complete change—to the pre-war economic, social and security sectors. The main goal of post-conflict reconstruction is a major shift of the ideology and operations of the political structure. Reconstruction is therefore a problem of “public choice” (Cowen & Coyne, 2003, p. 2). In other words, economic reconstruction should be considered as part of a broader peace-building process not focusing only on how much and in which sectors resources are needed, or on when and for what purposes aid should be delivered, but also on how an integrated strategy could be formulated which takes into account long-term social and political factors as well as the economic needs of the country concerned (Vayrynen, 1997, p. 157; Harme & Sullivan, 2002, p. 89).
