Violent Conflict and the Transformation of Social Capital: Lessons from Cambodia, Rwanda, Guatemala, and Somalia (Conflict Prevention and Post-Conflict Reconstruction)

In an effort to better understand the interactions between violent conflict and social capital, the authors undertook an exploratory investigation f four conflict-affected countries-Cambodia, Rwanda, Guatemala, and Somalia-and their changing social capital dynamics. The data for this report have been drawn from extensive literature reviews and from eight community-level studies conducted in the four countries. On this basis, the report discusses changes in social capital resulting from violent conflict; the interaction between social capital, social cohesion, and violent conflict; and how civil society, governments, and international actors can nurture the social capital needed to strengthen social cohesion and so promote conflict prevention, rehabilitation, and reconciliation. Findings and recommendations are preliminary, as each case study was conducted on an exploratory basis only. The study results are specific to the countries analyzed, although some broad generalizations may have wider validity. 'Armed conflict within a state weakens its social fabric and divides the population by undermining interpersonal and communal group trust, destroying the norms and values that underlie cooperation and collective action for the common good, and potentially perverting the mobilization of social relationships away from cooperative development and toward communal strife.' 'Violent Conflict and the Transformation of Social Capital' is an attempt to better understand the interactions between armed conflict and social capital. The World Bank's Post-Conflict Unit (PCU) undertook an investigation of four conflict-effected countries and their changing social capital dynamics. The initial phase examined Cambodia and Rwanda as case studies and the second phase studied social capital transformations and conflict in Guatemala and Somalia. Based on the four-country project, this book changes in social capital due to conditions of conflict; the interaction between social capital and conflict; and methods for civil society, government, and international actors to nurture social capital for conflict prevention rehabilitation and reconciliation measures. The types of conflict experienced, definitions and indicators of social capital, and study conclusions are compared. In the final section, recommendations for social policy and practices emerging from these studies are presented. 'Violent Conflict and the Transformation of Social Capital' is an invaluable resource for policy and operational specialists working in conflict-effected countries. The Cold War, in which superpowers sought to maintain a global balance of power without resorting to nuclear arms, masked many local, intrastate conflicts by internationalizing them.