What is the role of informal economic networks in violent conflict? This article from the European Journal of Development Research finds that in Somalia customary institutions of trust were preserved during conflict and contributed to economic coordination and conflict mediation. In Sierra Leone, patrimonial networks led to social collapse. Thus, social transformations arising from conflict can be productive or destructive, depending on the institutions embedded in social networks. The historical relationship of informal networks to the state shapes the institutional content of these networks.
Informal economic networks, which facilitate exchange through social linkages, have played an important role in modern violent conflicts. Productive change occurs when the benefits of economic opportunities are inclusive and is promoted by the retention of customary institutions that allow actors to coordinate exchanges in socially beneficial ways. Destructive change implies an exclusive structure of economic opportunities that contributes to the perpetuation of violence.
In Somalia, customary institutions for maintaining trust and for redistributing resources have been maintained, encouraging efficient economic behaviour and supporting conflict resolution. Although clan-based ties have played a role in fomenting violence and low levels of security and development, they have also sustained a relatively efficient private sector in the midst of political chaos. Since 2004, the Council of Islamic Courts has become powerful.
In Sierra Leone, the intrusion of patrimonial networks under the control of the President contributed to the erosion of community institutions and created a class of marginalised youth amenable to the economic opportunities offered by forces battling for control of diamond fields. Informal networks came to be based on socially destructive and opportunistic behaviour. They facilitated the perpetuation of a patrimonial economic system whose leaders relied on violent conflict to generate wealth. They contributed to prolonged suffering and delayed the emergence of democratic order.
The situations in Somalia and Sierra Leone show that:
- a formal institutional base can be replaced by the institutions embedded in informal networks and produce positive change;
- customary ties are not a replacement for an efficient and effective state;
- social welfare cannot be improved by minimising state involvement in the economy;
- when the formal institutional base promotes the success of the state at the expense of its citizenry, productive change relies on the mechanisms embedded in informal networks; and
- when customary ties have been eroded, the basic securities required for stability and exchange are denied and social disintegration results.
An evaluation of the sustainability of peace requires more evidence of the interactions between informal networks and the state-building process. However, in the cases of Somalia and Sierra Leone, the following points should be noted.
- The rise of the Islamic Courts in Somalia should not be interpreted as an expression of oppressive power.
- Facile labelling by international actors obscured a view of the Courts as the desire for change from the terrorising control of warlords.
- The assumption that members of the Courts were linked to al-Qaeda influenced Ethiopia and the United States to invade Somalia, precipitating the current humanitarian crisis.
- The role of foreigners in the renewed crisis of 2007 must be considered before assigning responsibility to internal actors.
- In Sierra Leone, it may be premature to consider the destructive impact of networks on stability have been eradicated.
