Social capital and the political economy of violence: A case study of Sri Lanka

This article examines the links between militarised violence and social cap ital (trans)formation. It first maps out emerging theoretical and policy de bates on social capital and violent conflict and questions a number of the assumptions underpinning these debates. This is followed by an empirical an alysis of several war-affected communities in Sri Lanka. The case studies i llustrate that the links between militarised violence and social capital ar e complex, dynamic and context specific. It is argued that social capital c annot be understood in isolation from political and economic processes, and the belief that violent conflict inevitably erodes social capital is quest ioned. Finally, the implications for external agencies are highlighted. Rat her than focusing on engineering social capital, external agencies need to focus on understanding better the preconditions for social capital formatio n and how they can contribute to the creation of an enabling environment. T his requires as a starting point a rigorous analysis of political and econo mic processes.