WIDER Working Paper No. 2013/28 Entrepreneurship and violent conflict in developing countries

In this working paper we provide an overview of two recent special journal issues on violent conflict and entrepreneurship. These are the special issue of the Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (2011) and the special issue of the Journal of Conflict Resolution (2013), devoted to the impact of violent conflict on entrepreneurship in developing countries. In the overview we start by defining entrepreneurship and conflict, and provide a succinct summary of the existing literature. From this it is clear there is a lack of studies dealing with how violent conflict impacts at the micro-level on firms or entrepreneurs. We then assess how the papers in the two special issues address this lacuna. We find from these that violent conflict has diverse impacts on entrepreneurs, firms, their investment and production processes, and that there are many ways to overcome the legacies of fighting. In fact, the post-war peace dividend and the reconstruction of markets and economies more generally, critically depend on public policies promoting entrepreneurship. Areas for further research are noted.