Mapping the structure of international inequalities and the poverty- conflict Nexus

Hudson, David (2017). Mapping the structure of international inequalities and the poverty- conflict Nexus. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: Economic and Social Research Council. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-850739

Data description (abstract)

Much recent attention has been paid to the interaction between poverty and conflict in developing countries. However, it is surprising that neither the academic nor the international development community has as of yet, systematically examined the influence of international inequalities upon poverty and conflict. The project proposes that the prevalence of poverty and conflict is strongly conditioned by countries' position within the international economic system. The nature of a country's economic ties with the rest of the world - often deeply unequal - can create significant dependencies and / or incentives to challenge the status quo, resulting in poverty-provoked violence. The project uses network analysis and matching methods. The network analysis is used to map out key international economic networks (aid, trade, and FDI) and generate measures of countries' direct and indirect relations with other states plus their position within the overall structure. These network measures are then used in a statistical method of matching countries to infer whether dependent countries are more likely to succumb to poverty-provoked conflict. The findings from the project will identify the extent to which international inequality traps lead to poverty and conflict traps in developing countries, and help to draw out the policy implications of this.

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