(When) Do Antipoverty Programs Reduce Violence? India's Rural Employment Guarantee and Maoist Conflict. (24th May 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dasgupta, Aditya; Gawande, Kishore; Kapur, Devesh
• Is Part Of: International organization. Volume 71:Number 3(2017)
• Page Start: 605
• Page End: 632
• Publication Date: 2017-05-24
• Subjects: International organization -- Periodicals; Economic policy -- Periodicals; National security -- Periodicals; 341
• DOI: 10.1017/S0020818317000236
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0020-8183

Abstract

Abstract: Theory and extensive evidence connect poverty and underdevelopment to civil conflict yet evidence on the impact of development programs on violence is surprisingly mixed. To break this impasse, we exploit a within-country policy experiment to examine the conditions under which antipoverty programs reduce violence. The roll-out of India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme caused a large long-run reduction in Maoist conflict violence, as measured with an original data set based on local-language press sources. These pacifying effects were not uniform, however, but overwhelmingly concentrated in districts with sufficient pre-existing local state capacity to implement the program effectively. The results demonstrate the potential for anti-poverty programs to mitigate violent civil conflict by improving livelihoods, but also highlight the crucial role of state capacity in shaping these effects.