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compared to say, Nigeria. The former country mainly exports software based prod-
ucts and services within a global value chain, whereas the latter mainly relies on oil
exports. Brunnschweiler and Bulte (2009) reject previous arguments that regard natu-
ral resource wealth or dependence as the principal culprit for civil war. They speculate
that resource dependence (a reliance on primary goods exports rather than simply
having a lot of natural resources) may be a manifestation of the failure to grow and
diversify as a consequence of conflict, but it does not contribute directly to conflict.
Both the simple minded greed theories based on purely criminal motivations and
naive institutional fundamentalism in relation to natural resource rents and conflict
risk need a great deal of nuancing to the individual case under scrutiny, so that the
mechanisms that contribute to natural resource rents becoming conflict risk enhancing
are properly understood. Among the many factors to be considered are the type of
natural resource, measurements of their abundance and the economy's dependence on
them, variation in the quality of political institutions, the incentives of rulers and the
ruling class, and whether rulers deliberately undermine existing institutions to facilitate
their kleptocratic ends.
An important dimension missing from the literature on natural resources and con-
flict is the individual's motivation to participate or refrain from joining rebellion or
violent contests over resource rents. This problem is usually brushed under the carpet,
even by those constructing theoretical (mathematical) models of resource driven con-
flict, by stating that the conflict entrepreneur must satisfy the participation constraints
of his soldiers (usually by allowing them to loot). Indeed, many studies have indi-
cated that participation in violence is motivated by the lack of alternative employment
opportunities and the lack of human capital (education) with which to make a living.
In addition to these extrinsic or pecuniary motivations, individuals are also driven by
intrinsic motivations, particularly group grievances. As previously indicated, group
identity may be salient to revolt and rebellion. An individual's utility may be related to
his group identity, specifically the relative position of the group he identifies himself
with in the social pecking order; see Akerlof and Kranton (2000). An individual may
derive utility from certain normative forms of behaviour appropriate to his identity
but considered deviant by other groups, and may even face sanctions from like-minded
group members if he/she deviates from them. Memories of historical injustices can play
an important part in forming the group identity. This type of behavioural paradigm
may be related to solving the collective action problems alluded to earlier, without
which organised large-scale violence is impossible.
3.4 LOCALISED CONFLICT
In conflict studies at present there is a need to go beyond the results that emerge from
'averaging' across the world's conflicts typical of cross-national studies, where the cases
are extremely heterogeneous because conflicts in different parts of the world are lumped
together in a single cross-country econometric exercise, to the analysis of conflict at the
more homogenous sub-regional and sub-national levels. The study of local conflicts is
very much within the mode of the case study approach. The heterogeneous effects of
conflict may extend to different areas of the same country, including rural and urban
areas. Therefore, more studies of the drivers and consequences of conflict at a more
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