Die Rolle externer wirtschaftlicher Akteure in Bürgerkriegsökonomien

Die Rolle externer wirtschaftlicher Akteure in Bürgerkriegsökonimien und ihre Bedeutung für Kriegsbeendigungsstrategien in Afrika südlich der Sahara. What role do external economic actors play for the outbreak, the continuation, and the re-solution of violent conflicts in war economies in Sub-Saharan Africa? (In german with English summary)
A BICC publication.

War economies are defined as a system of producing, mobilizing and allocating resources to sustain violence (Philippe Le Billon). Contrary to war economies in Europe or North America, which are largely self-sufficient for the supply of military equipment and rely on a bureaucratic pro-curement mechanism to supply their armed forces, external economic factors play an im-portant role in many countries of the so-called ‘third world’.

In the context of this project, the following conflicts were studied in detail (in brackets the time period analyzed):

• Angola (1992 – 2002)
• Côte d’Ivoire (2002 – present)
• Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (1998 – present)
• Guinea (2000 – 2001)
• Liberia (1997 – 2004)
• Nigeria/Niger Delta (2003 – present)
• Sierra Leone (1991 – 2002)
• Somalia (1988 – present)
• Sudan/South Sudan (1989 – present)

All case studies were analyzed according to a similar framework, consisting of the follow-ing three guiding questions:

1. What is the importance of natural resources for the continuation of violent conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa, both as a subject of conflict and as a source of external fi-nance?
2. What role do external actors play in the continuation of war economies in Sub-Saharan Africa?
3. What are the possibilities to influence the behavior of external actors and how should these possibilities be assessed?

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