International Network for Economics and Conflict

This paper from Oxfam examines the shift from philanthropy to corporate social responsibility as a means to finance health and education priorities in Guatemala.

In this report from the Transnational Institute, Liza Ten Velde offers insight into the increasingly dangerous environment in the Northern Triangle stemming from drug trafficking.

In this report from the Berghof Foundation, Ulrike Hopp-Nishanka introduces the concept of peace infrastructure and the potential opportunities that they present as well as the obstacles to implementation.

Dealing with a legacy of human rights violations is one of the most difficult challenges facing any society in the aftermath of violent conflict. A decade after internationally mediated peace agreements ended wars in Guatemala and Bosnia and Herzegovina, both countries continue to struggle with a culture of impunity and violence. What lessons can be learned about the effectiveness of transitional justice mechanisms in dealing with the past? Why set up truth commissions in one context and tribunals in another? How does a society learn to live with the memory of genocide and crimes against humanity? And how can external actors contribute to the process of reconciliation? These are some of the questions which Guatemalan, Bosnian, and Swiss experts addressed at the swisspeace annual conference 2006.

Crime and violence are now a key development issue for Central American countries. In three nations— El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras—crime rates are among the top five in Latin America. In the region’s other three countries—Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama—crime and violence levels are significantly lower, but a steady rise in crime rates in recent years has raised serious concern. There is reason to worry. To put the magnitude of the problem in context, the entire population of Central America is approximately the same as that of Spain, but while Spain registered 336 murders (i.e., fewer than one per day) in 2006, Central America recorded 14,257 murders (i.e., almost 40 per day) in the same year.

This USAID report thoroughly examines seven post-war countries. It focuses on different approaches to rebuilding fiscal infrastructure that have been tried in the different scenarios.

This UNU-WIDER report examines the value of remittances and their effects in natural disaster stricken Caribbean countries.

This paper demonstrates that within-group earnings inequality rather than between-group earnings inequality is the main contributor to overall earnings inequality.

This paper presents seven case studies of countries that have experienced devastating conflict, costing dearly in lives lost and disrupted, economies battered, and collapsed institutions of political and economic governance.