Costs of Intractable Conflict: Additional Resources

These references supplement the Knowledge Base Essay, Costs of Intractable Conflict.

Additional Explanations of the Underlying Concepts:

Online (Web) Sources

Burden Comparison.
Available at: http://web.sipri.org/contents/milap/milex/mex-burden.html  [Backup Link]
Countries with the highest and lowest military burden in 2002;a social and military expenditure as a share of gross domestic product, 2000-2002

Children of War: Too Young to Serve, Too Young to Die. 2004.
Available at: http://www.aworldofpossibilities.com/details.cfm?id=183  [Backup Link]

An interview with Angelina Atyam, Charlotte Atyam, Jo Becker, Emilia Taylor, and Mike Wessels. It's one of the darkest secrets of modern warfare: not a killing machine nor a space weapon but the abduction and enslavement of children as soldiers. This barbaric practice is revealed in the stories of these children but you'll also hear in their voices the strength of the human spirit as many emerge from the dehumanizing world of war committed to banishing this practice from the earth.

Adan, Mohamud, Ruto Pkalya and Isabella Masinde. "Conflict in Northern Kenya: A Focus on the Internally Displaced Conflict Victims in Northern Kenya." Intermediate Technology Development Group, 2003.
Available at: Primary Link  [Backup Link]

This case study describes the nature of violent conflicts in the Northern districts of Kenya. It describes the causes and consequences attached to the conflicts, the actors involved and preventative measures that can be used to transform and prevent these violent episodes.

Rossiasco, Paula Andrea. How Much Does the Conflict Cost Colombia?.
Available at: http://www.colombiajournal.org/colombia54.htm  [Backup Link]
This article assesses how much the Colombian civil war has cost the country.

Rakita, Sara and Yoden Thonden. Lasting Wounds: Consequences of Genocide and War for Rwanda's Children. Human Rights Watch.
Available at: http://hrw.org/reports/2003/rwanda0403/  [Backup Link]
This report details the human rights abuses Rwandan children still suffer eight years after the genocide. It discusses children languishing in prison, orphans and street children.

Barnes-Slater, Cynthia and John Ford. "Measuring Conflict: Both The Hidden Costs and the Benefits of Conflict Management Interventions." mediate.com , August 2002
Available at: http://www.mediate.com/articles/fordSlater.cfm?nl=7  [Backup Link]

Barnes-Slater and Ford pose the question, "what if you could quantify the lost productivity and opportunity costs that on-going workplace conflict creates?" From here they analyze some of the costs and benefits of ADR in the workplace.

Collier, Paul. On the Economic Consequences of Civil War. The World Bank Group.
Available at: http://www.worldbank.org/research/conflict/papers/cw-consq.htm  [Backup Link]
A model of the economic effects of civil war and the post-war period is developed in this paper. A key feature is the adjustment of the capital stock through capital flight. The model is tested on data for all civil wars since 1960. After long civil wars the economy recovers rapidly, whereas after short wars it continues to decline.

Cram, James A. and Richard K. MacWilliams. The Cost of Conflict in the Workplace. Cramby River Consultants.
Available at: http://www.crambyriver.com/coc.html  [Backup Link]
With a focus on organizations, this article examines the costs of conflict. It discusses the consequences of conflict and outlines their effects (breaking them down into orders).

Kaufer, Steve and Jurg W. Mattman. "The Cost of Workplace Violence to American Business." ,
Available at: Primary Link  [Backup Link]

The phenomenon of workplace violence began generating concern among public and private sector organizations in the United States in early 1990, and the awareness has increased steadily. While perceived as a threat to employees, no statistical information existed to permit the proactive development of prevention programs and policies. This article briefly describes a 1994 and 1996 workplace violence study.

The Costs of War.
Available at: http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/econ/cic_documents/research/war.pdf  [Backup Link]
This paper examines the costs of war from an economic point of view. The author suggests a framework for assessing the economic costs of war and discusses the costs of some past conflicts.

Fitzgerald, Valpy and Frances Stewart. The Costs of War in Poor Countries: Conclusions and Policy Recommendations.
Available at: http://www3.qeh.ox.ac.uk/pdf/oup/wau-ch9vol1.pdf  [Backup Link]
This paper offers an analysis of the costs of war to impoverished nations. It is primarily an economic analysis, but covers a variety of angles. The report is aimed at helping policymakers understand how poor nations deal with conflict so they may develop effective approaches for aid in the future.

Abadie, Alberto and Javier Gardeazabal. The Economic Costs of Conflict: A Case-Control Study for the Basque Country.
Available at: http://papers.nber.org/papers/W8478  [Backup Link]
Abstract: This paper investigates the economic effects of conflict, using the terrorist conflict in the Basque Country as a case study. Our analysis rests on two different strategies. First, we use a combination of other regions to construct a 'synthetic' control region which resembles many relevant economic characteristics of the Basque Country before the outset of political terrorism in the 1970's. The subsequent economic evolution of this 'counterfactual' Basque Country without terrorism is compared to the actual experience of the Basque Country. We find that, after the outbreak of terrorism, per capita GDP in the Basque Country declined about 10 percent points relative to the synthetic control region. Moreover, this gap seemed to widen in response to spikes in terrorist activity. The second part of this study uses the truce declared in September 1998 as a natural experiment to estimate the effects of the conflict. If the terrorist conflict was perceived to have a negative impact on the Basque economy, stocks of firms with a significant part of their business in the Basque Country should have shown a positive relative performance as the truce became credible, and a negative relative performance at the end of the cease-fire. We find evidence that is consistent with this conjecture using event study methods.

Levine, Stewart. "The Many Costs of Conflict." ,
Available at: http://www.mediate.com/articles/levine1.cfm  [Backup Link]

This article details the direct costs of everyday conflicts in dollars, productivity and emotional costs.

Women, Peace, and Security.
Available at: http://www.womenwarpeace.org/  [Backup Link]
Maintained by the United Nations Development Fund for Women, this website contains a wealth of information on a range of cases on the impact of violent conflict on women.

Herrick, Catherine . Workplace Conflict-- What is the Actual Cost?. Mediation Training Institute International.
Available at: http://www.mediationworks.com/mti/costs1.htm  [Backup Link]
This is an analysis of the monetary costs to an organization due to an actual conflict.

World Military Expenditure, 1994-2003. SIPRI.
Available at: http://web.sipri.org/contents/milap/milex/mex-world-graph.html  [Backup Link]
This website has a table that shows the world's annual military spending since 1994.

Offline (Print) Sources

Thomas, Kenneth W. and W. H. Schmidt. "A Survey of Managerial Interests with Respect to Conflict." Academy of Management Journal , 1976.

Thomas, Kenneth W. and W.H. Schmidt. "A Survey of Managerial Interests with Respect to Conflict." Academy of Management Journal , 1976.
This is an early classic study of the cost of conflict to organizations.

Slaikeu, Karl A. and Ralph H. Hasson. Controlling the Costs of Conflict: How to Design a System for Your Organization. Jossey-Bass, November 1, 1998.
This book explains the essentials needed to design a complete and effective conflict management system, and gives a step-by-step account of how to implement this type of system in businesses and other types of organizations.

Watson, Carol and Richard Hoffman. "Managers as Negotiators." Leadership Quarterly , 1996.

Luttwak, Edward. "The Curse of Inconclusive Intervention." In Turbulent Peace: The Challenges of Managing International Conflict. Edited by Hampson, Fen Osler, Chester A. Crocker and Pamela Aall, eds. Herndon, VA: USIP Press, July 1, 2001.
With this chapter, the author argues that wars should not be interrupted by outsiders because left alone, they will eventually burn themselves out. The logic is that outside forces introduce new motivations and resources, while if left to their own, the original parties would eventually fight themselves to a point where the war is no longer worth it and peace would ensue.

Robinson, Ian. "The East Timor Conflict." In The True Cost of Conflict: Seven Recent Wars and Their Effects on Society. Edited by Cranna, Michael and Nils Bhinda, eds. New York: The New Press, 1994.

Robinson, Ian. "The East Timor Conflict (1975 -)." In The True Cost of Conflict: Seven Recent Wars and Their Effects on Society. Edited by Cranna, Michael, ed. New York: The New Press, 1994.
This chapter provides an assessment of the costs of conflict in East Timor for those directly involved in the conflict as well as the international community.

Macdonald, Gordon and Angela Burke. "The former Yugoslavia Conflict." In The True Cost of Conflict: Seven Recent Wars and Their Effects on Society. Edited by Cranna, Michael, ed. New York: The New Press, 1994.
This chapter provides a discussion of the costs and benefits of the conflict in the Balkans for the former Yugoslav republics, the European Union, and the United States.

Quinn, Gregory. "The Iraq Conflict." In The True Cost of Conflict: Seven Recent Wars and Their Effects on Society. Edited by Cranna, Michael, ed. New York: The New Press, 1994.
This chapter examines the costs and benefits of the Gulf War for Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the West. It also undertakes the thought experiment of what would have happened had the conflict not occurred.

Bhinda, Nils. "The Kashmir Conflict." In The True Cost of Conflict: Seven Recent Wars and Their Effects on Society. Edited by Cranna, Michael, ed. New York: The New Press, 1994.
This chapter examines the costs and benefits of the Kashmir conflict for the region as well as India, Pakistan, China, and the West.

Vincent, Shaun. "The Mozambique Conflict." In The True Cost of Conflict: Seven Recent Wars and Their Effects on Society. Edited by Cranna, Michael and Nils Bhinda, eds. New York: The New Press, 1994.

Vincent, Shaun. "The Mozambique Conflict (1980-1992)." In The True Cost of Conflict: Seven Recent Wars and Their Effects on Society. Edited by Cranna, Michael, ed. New York: The New Press, 1994.
This chapter provides an assessment of a whole range of costs (and benefits where applicable) of the Mozambiquan civil war both for Mozambique as well as its neighbors and the international community in general.

Shave, David. "The Peru Conflict." In The True Cost of Conflict: Seven Recent Wars and Their Effects on Society. Edited by Cranna, Michael, ed. New York: The New Press, 1994.
This chapter examines the costs and benefits of the Peruvian civil war to Peru and the United States.

Shalita, Nicholas. "The Sudan Conflict." In The True Cost of Conflict: Seven Recent Wars and Their Effects on Society. Edited by Cranna, Michael, ed. New York: The New Press, 1994.
This chapter examines the costs and benefits of the conflict in Sudan for the country, its neighbors, and the United States.

Cranna, Michael, ed. The True Cost of Conflict: Seven Recent Wars and Their Effects on Society. New York: New Press, May 1995.
This edited volume, put together by a coalition of international humanitarian aid organizations, clearly illustrates the extensive costs of violent conflict. It reveals not only blatant costs in human lives and the like, but also some of the more hidden costs such as economic damage to participants and communities, as well as environmental damage. The seven conflicts examined are: East Timor, Mozambique, Sudan, Peru, Kashmir, and the former Yugoslavia.

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Examples Illustrating this Topic:

Online (Web) Sources

Child Soldiers: Healing the Wounds of War. 2004.
Available at: http://www.aworldofpossibilities.com/details.cfm?id=184  [Backup Link]

An interview with Ishmael Beah, Carlinda Monteiro, and Mike Wessels. Child soldiers: It's offensive to even put those two words together in the same phrase. Yet 300,000 children are forced into combat in dozens of countries. This is the riveting story of one of them who escaped the violence to become an advocate for ending the use of children in war. He's joined by psychologists who help these children regain peace and a place in the world.

Malapit, Hazel Jean L., Tina S. Clemente and Cristina Yunzal. Does Violent Conflict Make Chronic Poverty More Likely? The Mindanao Experience. Chronic Poverty Research Centre.
Available at: Primary Link  [Backup Link]
This paper using Mindanao as a case study, examines how violent conflict affects poverty rates.

"Impacts Outside the Countries in Conflict." , 2002
Available at: Primary Link  [Backup Link]

This section of the Greater Horn of Africa Initiative for Conflict Prevention discusses the impact of conflict on countries other than those in conflict.

Letters from Iraq: Soldiers & Families Navigate Emotions of War. 2004.
Available at: http://www.aworldofpossibilities.com/details.cfm?id=149  [Backup Link]

An interview with Ed Asner, Juanita Firestone, Anne Roesler, Jari Sheese, and Larry Syverson. Soldiers send letters home from Iraq via email, in envelopes, even on the backs of C-ration labels. Here at home, it's the message that counts. Listen to these letters read by family members and actor Ed Asner and hear the emotion and testimony of those in the line of fire and those hoping for their safe return home.

Reports from Iraq's Second Front: The Personal Wounds of War. 2004.
Available at: http://www.aworldofpossibilities.com/details.cfm?id=150  [Backup Link]

An interview with Juanita Firestone, Sylvia Myers, Shannon Sharrock, and Fernando Suarez de Solar. To hear the politicians tell it, war is about moral imperatives, stategic objectives and sacrifice-- usually by someone else. But for those who do the fighting and those left at home, it's usually about loss and lonliness. Listen in this program to those at the front and here at home caught in the whirlwind of war and wondering what it's all for.

Sudan: The Continuing Costs of War. World Vision.
Available at: Primary Link  [Backup Link]
This paper analyzes and bemoans the ongoing and staggering costs of the Sudanese civil war. The war has been in progress for over 15 years with extraordinary levels of financial, human, and other costs.

van de Veen, Hans. "Sudan: Who Has the Will for Peace?." , 1999
Available at: Primary Link  [Backup Link]

This article profiles the long legacy of violent conflict in Sudan, Africa's largest nation. Unfortunately, there is still not much hope for peace in the nation after more than thirty years of war.

Rogers, Paul. The Environmental Costs of War. Westmorland General Meeting Preparing for Peace Initiative.
Available at: Primary Link  [Backup Link]
This article uses case examples to describe the affects war has had on the environment in different communities.

Lucy, Ben. "The EU, Northern Uganda and the Prevention of Violent Conflict." African Security Review, Vol. 9, No. 5/6 , 2000
Available at: http://www.iss.co.za/Pubs/ASR/9No5And6/Lucy.html  [Backup Link]

This paper describes the human and material costs of violent conflict in the Acholi sub-region of Uganda.

Grossrieder, Paul. The Human Costs of War. Westmorland General Meeting Preparing for Peace Initiative.
Available at: Primary Link  [Backup Link]
The author describes the effects war has on individuals and communities.

Uppsala Conflict Database. Uppsala University.
Available at: http://www.pcr.uu.se/database/index.php  [Backup Link]
The Uppsala Conflict Database is a free resource of information on armed conflicts of the world.

Offline (Print) Sources

Lifton, R. J. Death in Life: The Survivors in Hiroshima. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, January 1, 1967.
In Japan, 'hibakusha means 'the people affected by the explosion'----specifically, the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima in 1945. In this classic study, Robert Jay Lifton studies the psychological effects of the bomb on 90,000 survivors. Lifton sees this analysis as providing a last chance to understand----and be motivated to avoid----nuclear war. (Amazon)

Danieli, Yael, ed. International Handbook of Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma. New York: Plenum Press, January 1, 1998.
This volume is a compellation of essays that examine the costs and effects of violent conflict, genocide, and slavery.

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Audiovisual Materials on this Topic:

Offline (Print) Sources

A Child's Century of War . Directed and/or Produced by: Saywell, Shelley. First Run Icarus Films. 2001.
In this film, children's voices from the past and present are intertwined as they relate the high cost of war. Primary Link  [Backup Link]

Alonso's Dream . Directed and/or Produced by: Lacourse, Daniele and Yvan Patry. First Run Icarus Films. 2000.
This film presents a contemplative and critical look at the impact the Zapatista uprising and paramilitary violence have had on the Mayan people. Primary Link  [Backup Link]

Rice and Honey: The Effect of the Ethnic Conflict on the Children of Sri Lanka. Directed and/or Produced by: Jacoby, Herzel. Care Source. 1994.
In this film Sinhala and Tamil children relate how the ethnic conflict in their country of Sri Lanka has affected them, their parents, friends, and neighbors

Urbicide: A Sarajevo Diary . Directed and/or Produced by: Rotheroe, Dom. First Run Icarus Films. 1993.
This film by focusing on Sarajevo's destruction, explores the causes and consequences of the Bosnian conflict. Primary Link  [Backup Link]

War and Peace . Directed and/or Produced by: Patwardhan, Anand. First Run Icarus Films. 2002.
This film looks at the human costs of war. Primary Link  [Backup Link]

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