This paper introduces the special issue of Oxford Development Studies on violent conflict in developing countries. The nine papers in this issue fall broadly into two parts—the first on horizontal inequalities and the management of ethnic conflicts in multiethnic states, and the second on...

This paper analyses the economic and social causes of conflict, drawing conclusions for conflict prevention. Civil wars normally occur when groups mobilize against each other, on the basis of some cultural characteristic like ethnicity or religion. It is suggested that horizontal inequalities,...

The idea that measures of happiness, or subjective well-being, should be used as the sole (or dominant) measure of country progress has gained considerable support. This paper traces the origins of the approach in the works of eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century utilitarians, whose...