This text discusses the economic, social and political implications of redirecting labour and capital from a military-based to a post-Cold War economy.

In Making Peace Possible, the editors have presented a range of papers which focus on the theory and practice of economic conversion of military-oriented industry to civilian use. The book brings together a wealth of information from academic research and from case studies undertaken by individual countries and by the United Nations. Covering such diverse topics as the relationship between the level of armament expenditure in the industrialized countries and economic aid to less developed countries, the economic impact of ever-increasing expenditure on arms, and the theory and practical experience of economic conversion projects in the US and Scandinavia, Making Peace Possible shows that economic conversion from military to civilian use can help form the basis for a more peaceful and economically stable world.

Looking beyond and beneath the macro level, this book examines the processes and outcomes of the interaction of economic reforms and socio-economic peacebuilding programmes with, and international interventions in, people’s lived realities in conflict-affected societies. The contributions argue that disregarding socio-economic aspects of peace and how they relate to the everyday leaves a vacuum in the understanding of the formation of post-conflict economies. To address this gap, the book outlines and deploys the concept of ‘post-conflict economy formation’. This is a multifaceted phenomenon, including both formal and informal processes that occur in the post-conflict period and contribute to the introduction, adjustment, or abolition of economic practices, institutions, and rules that inform the transformation of the socio-economic fabric of the society. The contributions engage with existing statebuilding and peacebuilding debates, while bringing in critical political economy perspectives. Specifically, they analyse processes of post-conflict economy formation and the navigation between livelihood needs; local translations of the liberal hegemonic order; and different, sparse manifestations of welfare states. The book concludes that a sustainable peace requires the formation of peace economies: economies that work towards reducing structural inequalities and grievances of the (pre-)conflict period, as well as addressing the livelihood concerns of citizens. This book was originally published as a special issue of Civil Wars.

Presents the research on economic factors affecting peace and war. This title includes theoretical perspectives on the economic foundations of peace, violence and war within countries, connections between international trade and inter-state conflict, and the role of legal/institutional factors in international and internal conflict.