Violent Conflict and the Transformation of Social Capital: Lessons from Cambodia, Rwanda, Guatemala, and Somalia

by Nat J. Colletta

'Armed conflict within a state weakens its social fabric and divides the population by undermining interpersonal and communal group trust, destroying the norms and values that underlie cooperation and collective action for the common good, and potentially perverting the mobilization of social relationships away from cooperative development and toward communal strife.' 'Violent Conflict and the Transformation of Social Capital' is an attempt to better understand the interactions between armed conflict and social capital. The World Bank's Post-Conflict Unit (PCU) undertook an investigation of four conflict-effected countries and their changing social capital dynamics. The initial phase examined Cambodia and Rwanda as case studies and the second phase studied social capital transformations and conflict in Guatemala and Somalia. Based on the four-country project, this book changes in social capital due to conditions of conflict; the interaction between social capital and conflict; and methods for civil society, government, and international actors to nurture social capital for conflict prevention rehabilitation and reconciliation measures. The types of conflict experienced, definitions and indicators of social capital, and study conclusions are compared. In the final section, recommendations for social policy and practices emerging from these studies are presented. 'Violent Conflict and the Transformation of Social Capital' is an invaluable resource for policy and operational specialists working in conflict-effected countries.

Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Michael Clevenger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm taking Professor Colletta's Transitions to War and Peace course at New College of FL and read through this in one sitting after class. I appreciate his overall thesis, which emphasized the role of social capital and social cohesion which can be a double-edged sword. "It can be a source of mutual aid and protection in the face of violent conflict, or, just as readily, it can be perverted to mobilize unemployed youth into militia and bring about horrendous acts of genocide." The way this played out, particularly in Rwanda with the Hutus and the Tutsis reminded me of Chris Hedges' thesis how "War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning."

This excerpt brings the four case studies together:

“The conflicts that have plagued Cambodia, Rwanda, Guatemala, and Somalia have varied in duration, intensity and nature. Cambodia experienced 20 years of fighting, with 4 intense years of civilian suffering at the hands of the state during the Khmer Rouge period. External warfare in Vietnam exacerbated the situation, making the country prone to sporadic bombings and invasions by foreign troops. In Rwanda, simmering tensions, beginning with the emergence of violence in 1959, exploded in a genocide that left 800,000 dead in a three-month period of brutal massacres. The conflict in Guatemala, typified by guerrilla warfare against a repressive state, flared up and subsided by turns for almost 40 years. Numerous human rights violations, including torture and disappearances, thoroughly dissolved trust in the state and split communities along the lines of real or perceived alliances. The dissolution of the state in Somalia as a consequence of gross misallocation of resources and power has created a vacuum in which clans vie for control of power and assets. Yet pockets of peace have emerged and Somalia has started on the road to recovery.

Despite these varying experiences with violent conflict, the roots of the conflicts have some common denominators. One underlying thread is the inequality, exclusion, and indignity that resulted as elites manipulated political, social, and economic resources to retain control during the local-to-global transition. A second similarity is the turmoil left in the wake of the transition. The combined political, social, and economic instability resulting from changes associated with this transition—from a state-centric to an open society, from traditional to national or international structures, and from a centrally planned to a market economy with increasing external market penetration—facilitated the emergence of hostilities in each country. The third commonality is the impact of the local-to-global transition on the nature and structure of social capital and the resulting social cohesion or fragmentation in each affected country.” –p. 86, 87

The text is a framework on how to rebuild war-torn societies and at just shy of 140 pages, I would recommend it as a short supplement to other conflict resolution/international development texts.