Research Article

Revisiting the greed and grievance explanations for violent internal conflict

  1. Syed Mansoob Murshed1,*,
  2. Mohammad Zulfan Tadjoeddin2

Article first published online: 20 OCT 2008

DOI: 10.1002/jid.1478

Issue

Journal of International Development

Journal of International Development

Volume 21, Issue 1, pages 87–111, January 2009

Additional Information

How to Cite

Murshed, S. M. and Tadjoeddin, M. Z. (2009), Revisiting the greed and grievance explanations for violent internal conflict. J. Int. Dev., 21: 87–111. doi: 10.1002/jid.1478

Author Information

  1. 1

    Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Netherlands; The Birmingham Business School, Birmingham, UK; and Centre for the Study of Civil War (CSCW), PRIO, Norway

  2. 2

    University of western Sydney, Sydney, Australia

*Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague, The Netherlands.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 4 DEC 2008
  2. Article first published online: 20 OCT 2008

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Keywords:

  • conflict;
  • civil war;
  • greed versus grievance;
  • social contract;
  • post-conflict reconstruction;
  • JEL classification numbers: D72, D74, O10, O40

Abstract

Two phenomena have been recently utilised to explain conflict onset among rational choice analysts: greed and grievance. The former reflects elite competition over valuable natural resource rents. The latter argues that relative deprivation and the grievance it produces fuels conflict. Neither the presence of greed or grievance is sufficient for the outbreak of violent conflict, something which requires institutional breakdown, which we describe as the failure of the social contract. The degradation of the social contract is more likely in the context of poverty and growth failure. We provide a synthesis of the greed and grievance hypotheses. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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