War Economy in the Contemporary Wars: In the Context of Central African Republic

Abstract

Purpose: Ideally, the war economy is a set of contingencies undertaken by a state to mobilize its economy for war production or to support the war. However, the existing explanation of war economy does not fit in the conflicts of the modern era. In modern days ‘new war’ or ‘contemporary war’ are mostly intrastate and fought amongst the brutal unregulated non-state actors. This paper discussed different aspects of contemporary war economy focusing on the ongoing civil war of Central African Republic.
Design/Methodology/Approach: This paper is developed on the basis of published literature and authors own work experiences in the Central African Republic. A qualitative analytical method has been followed to develop this paper.
Findings: This paper identifies the economic system that has been developed in the Central African Republic amidst the civil war for the last two decades. Findings of this analysis show that this war economy is self- financing and parasitic in nature where there is ‘more to war than winning’.
Limitations: Due to political unrest and several civil wars for more than two decades, no actual survey could be done in the recent past. Therefore, further study can be conducted to statistically prove the points made in this study.
Implications: By studying the war economy of any contemporary war, one can understand the nature of the war as well as the types of trade that govern the war.
Originality/Value: There are few works of literature on the war economy, contemporary wars and also conflicts of Central African Republic. The paper tries to view the said civil war from the economic perspective and identifies a different aspect of the contemporary war economy.