Description
How do economic motivations interact with modes of violence across the wars in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen? While some groups will fight to promote or defend a particular identity, others fight for economic survival or enrichment. For many more actors, these motivations are tied together. This study develops a framework for comparative analysis of conflict economies at the local level in the MENA region to understand the persistence of open fighting, localized violence and coercion. We show how a conflict economy is embedded within a complex local socio-political system, in which many variables and agendas interact. The literature on conflict economies primarily focuses on state-level dynamics. Little attention has been paid to the development of conflict sub-economies that are specific to certain types of geographies. This study examines three distinct types of conflict sub-economy: (1) capital cities; (2) transit areas and borderlands; and (3) oil-rich areas. Our analysis highlights how each sub-economy creates distinct location-based patterns of resource production, mobilization and allocation to sustain competitive and embedded violence. In challenging the current literature, this framework offers a complementary explanation for armed group membership and armed group behaviour.
