Economic Development, Inequality and War shows how economic decline, income inequality, pervasive rent seeking by ruling elites, political authoritarianism, military centrality and competition for mineral exports contribute to war and humanitarian emergencies. Economic regress and political decay bring about relative deprivation, perception by social groups of injustice arising from a growing discrepancy between what they expect and get. Nafziger and Auvinen indicate that both economic greed and social grievances drive contemporary civil wars. Finally, the authors also identify policies for preventing humanitarian emergencies.

This paper focuses on a political economy of humanitarian emergencies, comprising a human-made crisis in which large numbers of people die from war and state violence. The article analyzes how economic decline, income inequality, pervasive rent seeking by ruling elites, a reduced surplus to threaten the survival income of a large portion of the population, a weakening state, and competition for control of mineral exports contribute to emergencies. Economic regress and political decay bring about relative deprivation or perception by influential social groups of injustice arising from a growing discrepancy between what they expect and get.

First published in 1991 this text provides an incisive analysis of theories concerning the origins of economic inequality between nations. Central to the authorâe(tm)s investigation is the concept of underdevelopment, and a focus on successive Western âe~systems of conceptualisationâe(tm) of the relationship between the west and the rest of the world. The first part of the book concerns the Marx/Engels theory of the Asiatic mode of production, and the anti-Imperialist reaction against Eurocentrisim initiated by the theoretical synthesis of J. A. Hobson. This is followed by an examination of the post-World War II era, particularly the evolution of development studies and the differing versions of dependency theory. The author concludes with an analysis of the most recent reactions against economic imperialism and dependency theory, and concludes with an assessment of their implications for the further economic development of todayâe(tm)s Third World.

How only violence and catastrophes have consistently reduced inequality throughout world history Are mass violence and catastrophes the only forces that can seriously decrease economic inequality? To judge by thousands of years of history, the answer is yes. Tracing the global history of inequality from the Stone Age to today, Walter Scheidel shows that inequality never dies peacefully. Inequality declines when carnage and disaster strike and increases when peace and stability return. The Great Leveler is the first book to chart the crucial role of violent shocks in reducing inequality over the full sweep of human history around the world. Ever since humans began to farm, herd livestock, and pass on their assets to future generations, economic inequality has been a defining feature of civilization. Over thousands of years, only violent events have significantly lessened inequality. The "Four Horsemen" of leveling—mass-mobilization warfare, transformative revolutions, state collapse, and catastrophic plagues—have repeatedly destroyed the fortunes of the rich. Scheidel identifies and examines these processes, from the crises of the earliest civilizations to the cataclysmic world wars and communist revolutions of the twentieth century. Today, the violence that reduced inequality in the past seems to have diminished, and that is a good thing. But it casts serious doubt on the prospects for a more equal future. An essential contribution to the debate about inequality, The Great Leveler provides important new insights about why inequality is so persistent—and why it is unlikely to decline anytime soon.

E. Wayne Nafziger analyzes the economic development of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and East-Central Europe. The book is suitable for those with a background in economics principles. Nafziger explains the reasons for the recent fast growth of India, Poland, Brazil, China, and other Pacific Rim countries, and the slow, yet essential, growth for a turnaround of sub-Saharan Africa. The fifth edition of the text, written by a scholar of developing countries, is replete with real-world examples and up-to-date information. Nafziger discusses poverty, income inequality, hunger, unemployment, the environment and carbon-dioxide emissions, and the widening gap between rich (including middle-income) and poor countries. Other new components include the rise and fall of models based on Russia, Japan, China/Taiwan/Korea, and North America; randomized experiments to assess aid; an exploration of whether information technology and mobile phones can provide poor countries with a shortcut to prosperity; and a discussion of how worldwide financial crises, debt, and trade and capital markets affect developing countries.