Small Business, Entrepreneurship and Violent Conflict in Developing Countries

Abstract

This study surveys the small but growing field of entrepreneurship and conflict in developing countries, which is also the topic of this special issue of the Journal of Small business and Entrepreneurship. We review recent contributions on how mass violent conflict such as civil war affects productive entrepreneurship and we discuss the contributions to this special issue. furthermore, we define entrepreneurship and violent conflict and indicate how they may affect each other. We find that violent conflict has diverse impacts on entrepreneurs, firms and 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, more generally, the reconstruction of markets and economies — critically depends on public policies promoting entrepreneurship.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, developing countries, conflict

JEL Classification: L26, D1, O15, O57