By Eric Levitz, features writer for Intelligencer who covers politics and economics. Hirshleifer (1995, 2001) provides an important refinement on the motive- . Greed and Grievance: A Tug of War between Discourses Authors: Aimen Majeedullah Institute of Development Studies Abstract This paper discusses the 'greed versus grievance' debate highlighting. In other resource-rich regions, indigenous people have experienced relative deprivation in relation to the richness of their land (Tadjoeddin et al. Solving the Rebels Dilemma is a dynamic process. : Conceptual, Theoretical, and Methodological Gaps in the Large-N Civil War Research Program. the availability of finance (mostly in the form of primary commodity exports and a powerful the Islam by being subjugated to the secular Philippine law system. According to Pargenter, Gadaffis response was to keep the East in a constant state of underdevelopment, in order to make it feel what it means to challenge the regime (2012, pp.170-1). This essay will focus in its first section in understanding what the framework is on its basis and how interacts between the two concepts, followed by a brief analysis of two study cases in the Global South, showing how international intervention and national peace processes are taking the framework as a useful tool, demonstrating that the application of complementary methods to address conflicts in the Global South are needed to positively address conflicts, concluding this paper with a direct answer to the question. Firstly, the Libyan society has suffered under the economic policies of the regime. Greed and Grievance in Civil War. Part of the All in all, while grievances seemed to play an important role as a motivation in Libya, greed does not provide a convincing explanation. 2008). Schooling, Economic Opportunities, and the Arab Spring. Although the framework has considerably supported the understanding of new actors in geopolitics in the Global South, the essence of greed versus grievance is not routed to address a conflict but to facilitate the recognition of interests in new wars. It examines the pattern of environmentalism and discusses the complex nature of the conflicts against the curtailment of primordial motivations if environmental justice is to be achieved. In their paper, Greed and Grievance in Civil Wars (2002), greed trumps grievance as a motivator of conflict in decolonised countries- most of them in the Global South. The erosion of Moro culture was very much tied to Islamism and the kin-ship system. Oxford Economics Paper. It does not store any personal data. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Karen Ballentine and Jake Sherman (eds. It can be observed that the greed versus grievance framework is found in many cases of the Global South; however, conflicts and actors have turned into more complex structures and objectives, as well understanding the complexity itself of the new goals of states and institutions. In other words, these conditions allowed the Rebels Dilemma to be overcome. people want what they don't have. In order to start analysing how the greed-grievance framework can be useful in the analysis of conflicts in countries in the Global South, it is important to summarize some of the key discourses that underpin the framework. Pargeter, Alison, 2012. Contrary to the literature, it demonstrates how grievance may manifest into greed in a mutually reinforcing pattern. Youth Employment in the MENA Region: A Situational Assessment. [online] [Accessed 2 December 2012]. Furthermore, the behaviour of rebels in the initial phase of the rebellion does not seem to confirm the greed thesis, as there were no reports of significant looting. Abrahms came to a similar conclusion about the effectiveness of excessive violence (Abrahms, 2006). Greed and Grievance - George Washington University could be overcome. Regional dynamics, along with East Timors independence and the radical increase of private investments in primary resources in the country, left locals without any opportunity to obtain wealth. Each of these factors can be argued to have played a role in inciting resistance against Gadaffis regime. However, later in their later work under the same name (2004), they started treating the justice-seeking and the loot-seeking separately; Here we propose a more general theory which juxtaposes the opportunities for rebellion against the constraints. Oxford: Centre for Libyan Studies. 49-63. Historically, the east has been the centre of resistance against Gadaffi. In that regard, a possible explanation is the unique regional context: the early Arab Spring protests showed that the autocratic regimes were not all-powerful in cracking down on dissidents (Kneissl, 2011), lowering the perceived opportunity costs for protesters. Naturally, the MILF needed their own way. out. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. which areas were made economically self-reliant and could be governed according to Islamic laws, The government tries to prevent the rebels from succeeding in overcoming the Rebels Dilemma, whereas the rebels, to the extent that they are organised, try to find a strategy to overcome the collective action problem. Libya: The Rise and Fall of Qaddafi. International involvement did something to remedy this in phase 3 and 4. To make matters worse, the sanctions regime was abused by the rich class, who managed to sell off food allowances and gained unique access to foreign products. In Libya the first of these factors is the behaviour of the Gadaffi government, reducing its internal legitimacy and isolating itself from outside support through violent actions and rhetoric (Whitaker, 2011). Sudan: The North-South Conflict From a Grievance Perspective Throughout this work, the greed versus grievance framework will be stressed as the majority of conflict cases in the Global South can be reflected in this theory in the shape of civil wars; however, there exist major armed conflicts around the contemporary Global South where the descriptive conditions could contradict the model by Collier (2001). 7. Greed and Grievance: the Changing Contours of - Jstor back to the time of the American colonization (see section 2.1.2.). Therefore, the MILF tied the loss of culture completely 61(1), pp. The civil war started on March 23, 1991, when a group of 100 fighters from Sierra Leone and Liberia invaded east Sierra Leone. The political, relational and organizational features of the MILF were Those who believe . Care of the poor is incumbent on society as a whole. (Spinoza, n.d.) The struggle has advanced to a low intensity conflict ostensibly against the state which has resulted in the militarization of the region. In short, while there were no signs of self-enrichment as a motivation for the rebels, it cannot be disproven that the prospect of riches was a reason for violence. All our essays are uploaded by volunteers. The World Factbook: Libya. terrain is very suitable for guerilla tactics. Most grievances are still valid in phase four and have been admitted to by the government Particularly in the areas of the influence of Journal of Democracy, 22(3), pp. Horizontal Inequalities as a Source of Conflict. Their analogies have contoured many policy dissertations with time and the studies are still referred to by a number of governments and international organizations. Download the full version above. Nevertheless, the role of oil would merit more study, as the rebels moved to control this resource fairly quickly and it would need to be confirmed that they limited themselves to controlling resources necessary for the war (England and Blas, 2011). economic stagnation. Violence could be used as a part of politics, but excessive and too arbitrary Jean-Marie Guehenno, "Globalisation and Its . dominated by a large Christian majority. Kneissl, Karin, 2011. Elements for a Scientific Analysis of the Arab Revolutions in Spring 2011. power. The 'Greedflation' Debate Is Deeply Confused. undermined local government control. Interdisciplinary Science Review, 25(4), pp. For the MILF case, finance is available but not abundant. Since the 1980s, Hashim Salamat had integrated the MILF in the global jihadi network. Complementary to the concepts of greed and grievance, proxy measures of armed conflicts in the Global South can demonstrate the relevance of the framework. process. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. groups like ASG with its many hostage-takings, this conflict was mostly dominated by grievances. Both parties sometimes broke the ceasefire unilaterally. natural resources), Islamization, and the rehabilitation of Moro pride, the group had success. PDF 'Greed' versus 'Grievance': A Useful Conceptual Distinction in the . Both vertical inequalities: economic grievances, a lack of political rights, and the lifestyle of the Gadaffi children, as well as horizontal inequalities: regional as well as tribal differences. Washington DC: World Bank. Gaddafis Fall Unlikely to Alarm Arab Leaders. 2002. Homo Economicus Goes to War: Methodological Individualism, Rational Choice and the Political Economy of War. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Role of Greed and Grievance in Civil War - UK Essays Foday Sankoh, an ex-army sergeant, leaded the RUF- with the argument that he represented the urban dispossessed and promised impoverished peasants a greater share in the mineral wealth misused by the government. The argument of this essay states that geopolitics will prove that conflicts cant be seen as a double-headed dragon, or simply basing them through an isolated theory. throughout the peace negotiations. Simons, Geoff, 2003. By this time, the conflict can be described as a situation of contested sovereignty and thus as a civil war. the grievances and gain legitimacy for it. Berdal, Mats, 2005. The wave of protests has led to two violent rebellions: the Libyan revolutionary war and the Syrian civil war. In practice, even proponents of strong versions of these arguments admit that the opposing argument has some influence in the development of a conflict. As a result, the gap between the rich and poor in Libya widened. It does in part: the country strongly relies on primary commodity exports in the form of oil, and it had an estimated unemployment rate of 30% in 2004. On The Angolan Civil War: Conflict Economics or the Divine Right of Kings?