Defence, Security and the Economy in South Asian Countries

Conflict and development are invariably considered as incompatible and even mutually exclusive as contemporaneously occurring phenomena. The former, through a cohort of mechanisms and channels, siphons valuable and scarce resources to less productive and in fact, destructive uses with a very high welfare cost to societies. Hence it adversely affects and impedes development efforts and hinders socio-economic progress (Collier, 1999; Barros, 2002; Blomberg and Hess, 2002; Murdoch and Sandler, 2002; Gupta et al., 2004; Murdoch and Sandler, 2004; Koubi, 2005; Gaibulloev and Sandler, 2009; Glick and Taylor, 2010; Braddon and Hartley, 2011; Blomberg and Hess, 2012). Although this probably has a universal application, it is even truer when it comes to poorer countries that, in comparative terms, are resource constrained compared to their richer, more developed counterparts. As a result of conflict and violence — be it inter- or intra-state — developing countries are starved from valuable and scarce assets and human capital that could alternatively contribute to their developmental efforts, propping-up growth, propelling human welfare and improving standards of living (Abadie and Gardeazabal, 2003; Blomberg et al., 2006; Brauer and Dunne, 2002; Garfinkel and Skaperdas, 2012; Skaperdas, 2011). Some of the most protracted and violent conflicts in the world can be found in the South Asia region.