Post-conflict Recovery: How Should Strategies Be Distinctive?

This paper considers why economic policies may need to be distinctive if a country is post-conflict relative to others which are equally poor but peaceful. Objectives should probably be distinctive because the risk of conflict is typically much higher. I argue that appropriate responses are job creation for young men, and deep cuts in military spending. Political opportunities are likely to be distinctive because reform may be easier than at other times. Economic opportunities are likely to be distinctive because conflict distorts the structure of the economy. Standard approaches to economic development are therefore often inapplicable, yet the capacity of government to devise tailored solutions is very limited.