Are social networks the key to understanding resilience in conflict? Recent studies suggest so, but relational research in conflict-affected areas is rare. What exists stresses the importance of small circles of close family members, trusted friends, and co-ethnic persons/groups, but tends to overlook their aggregate effect. Drawing on data from a relational study of personal support networks in Masisi, a rural area of North Kivu province, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, I show how people rely on large, widespread networks of ethnically diverse recent strangers. I highlight the types of relationships people value most, assess how they make and maintain them, and begin to explore some of their cumulative socio-political effects. I posit that reputation and improved local security are support networks' most important outcomes, although the latter comes at a price. The findings reveal a fundamental paradox: while resilience in conflict is primarily relational, its dependence on connections limits its scope and makes it inherently unstable.
Solange G. Fontana (Sun,) studied this question.
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