Strategies for Financing Higher Education: The case of Thailand

Abstract

Poverty puts countries at significant risk of conflict. In his influential book The Bottom Billion, Paul Collier shows strong statistical support for the claim that conflict is clustered in the worlds " poorest nations. Low per capita income raises the chances that a country will experience violence, 1 while economic growth reduces the likelihood of civil war. 2 The relationship between poverty and conflict works in the opposite direction, as well. Conflict destroys infrastructure, disrupts trade, distorts markets, and can reverse decades of development. According to the World Bank " s 2011 World Development Report, poverty reduction lags behind by 2.7% for every three years a country is affected by major violence, and no conflict-affected country has yet achieved a single Millennium Development Goal. The vast majority of Mercy Corps " programs are in fragile states and conflict-affected environments. In these settings, we have found that one of the most effective approaches is to integrate peacebuilding and economic development interventions. Like many other agencies, we have adapted our economic development programs to work in conflict, applying a " do no harm " lens to ensure that program activities do not exacerbate existing tensions or provoke new disputes. Increasingly, we go a step further and harness our economic development programs to work on conflict, as well – actively promoting peace by building economic relationships, addressing economic causes of conflict, reducing economic incentives for violence, and supporting local private sector actors to build peace. In addition, we use peacebuilding tools to build trust, resolve economic disputes, and address market dysfunctions related to violence, power imbalances, weak relationships, and poor governance.