IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2017-50.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Legal empowerment and horizontal inequalities after conflict

Author

Listed:
  • Lars Waldorf

Abstract

This article explores whether legal empowerment can address horizontal inequalities in post-conflict settings, and if so, how. It argues that legal empowerment has modest potential to reduce these inequalities but that there are risks of strengthening group identities, reducing social cohesion, and, in the worst case, triggering conflict. It uses a case study to examine how two legal empowerment programmes in Liberia navigated this tension between equity and peace.

Suggested Citation

  • Lars Waldorf, 2017. "Legal empowerment and horizontal inequalities after conflict," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-50, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2017-50
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/wp2017-50.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel M. Brinks, 2016. "Access to what? Legal agency and access to justice for indigenous peoples in Latin America," WIDER Working Paper Series 138, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Alexandre Marc & Alys Willman & Ghazia Aslam & Michelle Rebosio & Kanishka Balasuriya, 2013. "Societal Dynamics and Fragility : Engaging Societies in Responding to Fragile Situations," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 12222.
    3. Frances Stewart, 2005. "Groups and Capabilities," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(2), pages 185-204.
    4. Daniel M. Brinks, 2016. "Access to what?: Legal agency and access to justice for indigenous peoples in Latin America," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-138, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Hanne Fjelde & Gudrun Østby, 2014. "Socioeconomic Inequality and Communal Conflict: A Disaggregated Analysis of Sub-Saharan Africa, 1990--2008," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(5), pages 737-762, October.
    6. Ato Kwamena Onoma, 2014. "Transition Regimes and Security Sector Reforms in Sierra Leone and Liberia," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-012, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Helene Grandvoinnet & Ghazia Aslam & Shomikho Raha, 2015. "Opening the Black Box," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 21686.
    8. Roddy Brett, 2011. "Confronting Racism from within the Guatemalan State: The Challenges Faced by the Defender of Indigenous Rights of Guatemala's Human Rights Ombudsman's Office," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(2), pages 205-228.
    9. Onoma, Ato Kwamena, 2014. "Transition regimes and security sector reforms in Sierra Leone and Liberia," WIDER Working Paper Series 012, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Tony Addison & Rachel Gisselquist & Miguel Niño-Zarazúa & Saurabh Singhal, 2015. "Needs vs Expediency - Poverty Reduction and Social Development in Post-Conflict Countries," Working Papers id:7371, eSocialSciences.
    11. Fox, Jonathan A., 2015. "Social Accountability: What Does the Evidence Really Say?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 346-361.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lars Waldorf, 2017. "Legal empowerment and horizontal inequalities after conflict," WIDER Working Paper Series 050, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Almohad, Selman, 2019. "Bringing regional politics to the study of security sector reform: Army reform in Sierra Leone and Iraq," GIGA Working Papers 319, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    3. Ludger Niemann & Thomas Hoppe, 2021. "How to Sustain Sustainability Monitoring in Cities: Lessons from 49 Community Indicator Initiatives across 10 Latin American Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-16, May.
    4. Hernández, Alison & Ruano, Ana Lorena & Hurtig, Anna-Karin & Goicolea, Isabel & San Sebastián, Miguel & Flores, Walter, 2019. "Pathways to accountability in rural Guatemala: A qualitative comparative analysis of citizen-led initiatives for the right to health of indigenous populations," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 392-401.
    5. Tony Addison & Rachel M. Gisselquist & Miguel Niño-Zarazúa & Saurabh Singhal, 2015. "Needs versus Expediency: Poverty Reduction and Social Development in Post-conflict Countries," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-063, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Alawattage, Chandana & Azure, John De-Clerk, 2021. "Behind the World Bank’s ringing declarations of “social accountability”: Ghana’s public financial management reform," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    7. Catherine Boone, 2017. "Legal empowerment of the poor through property rights reform: Tensions and trade-offs of land registration and titling in sub-Saharan Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series 037, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Davison Muchadenyika, 2017. "Civil society, social accountability and service delivery in Zimbabwe," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 35, pages 178-195, October.
    9. Tony Addison & Rachel Gisselquist & Miguel Niño-Zarazúa & Saurabh Singhal, 2015. "Needs vs Expediency - Poverty Reduction and Social Development in Post-Conflict Countries," Working Papers id:7371, eSocialSciences.
    10. Tony Addison & Rachel Gisselquist & Miguel Niño-Zarazúa & Saurabh Singhal, 2015. "Needs vs Expediency - Poverty Reduction and Social Development in Post-Conflict Countries," Working Papers id:7371, eSocialSciences.
    11. Dean Neu & Gregory D. Saxton & Abu S. Rahaman, 2022. "Social Accountability, Ethics, and the Occupy Wall Street Protests," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 17-31, September.
    12. Anheier Helmut K. & Toepler Stefan, 2019. "Policy Neglect:The True Challenge to the Nonprofit Sector," Nonprofit Policy Forum, De Gruyter, vol. 10(4), pages 1-9, December.
    13. Anheier, Helmut K. & Lang, Markus & Toepler, Stefan, 2018. "Civil society in times of change: Shrinking, changing and expanding spaces and the need for new regulatory approaches," Economics Discussion Papers 2018-80, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    14. Joshi, Anuradha, 2017. "Legal Empowerment and Social Accountability: Complementary Strategies Toward Rights-based Development in Health?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 160-172.
    15. Mayka, Lindsay & Abbott, Jared, 2023. "Varieties of participatory institutions and interest intermediation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    16. Rachel M. Gisselquist, 2018. "Legal empowerment and group-based inequality," WIDER Working Paper Series 039, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Griewald, Yuliana & Rauschmayer, Felix, 2013. "Exploring a nature-related conflict from a capability perspective," UFZ Discussion Papers 7/2013, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    18. Ogbe, Michael & Lujala, Päivi, 2021. "Spatial crowdsourcing in natural resource revenue management," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    19. Cees De Haan & Etienne Dubern & Bernard Garancher & Catalina Quintero, 2016. "Pastoralism Development in the Sahel," World Bank Publications - Reports 24228, The World Bank Group.
    20. Burchardt, Tania & Evans, Martin & Holder, Holly, 2013. "Public policy and inequalities of choice and autonomy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 51267, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2017-50. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.