Economic Liberalization and Political Violence

Globalisation has spread neoliberal political economies worldwide, but is the globalising of this economic system a tool for spreading peace and prosperity, or a harbinger of conflict and war?

The authors examine the effect of neoliberalism on violent conflict and war-making in Sudan, the Ivory Coast, Peru and Colombia. Through quantitative and qualitative analyses they challenge advocates and opponents of neo-liberal reforms, revealing that the shift to neoliberal policies has produced widely diverging outcomes in different contexts; proving that the notion of global neoliberal homogeneity is flawed.