Chapter 1 Introduction

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S1572-8323(2010)0000014005
• Date: 08 July 2010
• Published date: 08 July 2010
• Pages: 1-9
• Author: Benjamin E. Goldsmith,Jurgen Brauer

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Benjamin E. Goldsmith and Jurgen Brauer

The role of economic factors in social processes leading to peace, conf‌lictand

war is an increasingly important area of scholarly research, and of interest

from policy makers. For example, the continuing efforts to understand the

causes of international war and civil war have recently turned to debates

over whether there is a ‘capitalist peace’ effect internationally, and what the

respective roles of ‘greed and grievance’ are in the occurrence of war within

states. Although the democratic peace supposes that liberal states tend not

to go to war with each other due to their political institutions and norms,

the capitalist peace identif‌ies economic factors, such as economic develop-

ment and open markets, as the key causes of this liberal peace. The capitalist

peace proposition will have real-world policy implications, not least because

it is often proposed as an alternative explanation for the peaceful effects

previously attributed to the ‘democratic peace’. The greed and grievance

debate has had wide resonance in the policy community, especially through

the work of Paul Collier at Oxford University.

This book is an attempt to contribute to these strands of research in a way

that broadens our thinking about the connections between economics and

organized social conf‌lict. Of course it cannot present a comprehensive

analysis across all areas of potential interest. Rather, it provides interesting

and innovative research across a number of key areas. The collection of

these chapters into one volume also highlights potentially important areas

of cross-fertilization among disciplines, methods of analysis and substantive

areas of interest. The book showcases the work of economists, political

Economics of War and Peace: Economic, Legal, and Political Perspectives

Contributions to Conf‌lict Management, Peace Economics and Development, Volume 14, 1–9

Copyright r2010 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited

All rights of reproduction in any form reserved

ISSN: 1572-8323/doi:10.1108/S1572-8323(2010)0000014005

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