Social exclusion and Conflict: Analysis and Policy Implications.
Abstract
This paper explores the relationship between social exclusion (SE) and violent conflict and considers policies that might be adopted to reduce social exclusion and help to prevent conflict. It is organised as follows. Following an introduction, the next section briefly considers the definition of SE, and presents some illustrative examples. Section 3 explores how SE may provide fertile conditions for internal conflict, and considers the conditions in which such violence tends to erupt, again illustrating this by a range of examples. Section 4 surveys policy approaches towards SE; section 5 provides two examples where policies have been apparently successful in reducing/avoiding conflict. The concluding section emphasises some political economy issues which can prevent such policies, or even make them counterproductive from the perspective of avoiding conflict. This is illustrated by the case of Sri Lanka.
Citation
CRISE Policy Paper, Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity, Oxford, UK, 60 pp.
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