The silent legacy of war. The long-term consequences of conflict-related sexual violence on social capital

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In recent years conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has received increasing attention in policy circles, as the recent Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in London in June 2014 illustrated (UK Government 2014; UN 2012). Although in the policy world it is emphasized that CRSV destroys individual lives and community relations, social science research has been largely restricted to the causes of CRSV while neglecting its consequences. This project addresses this shortcoming with the following research questions: How does CRSV affect individuals and communities in the long term? What are the consequences of CRSV on social trust, cohesion and civic engagement - in short, social capital? Which other factors influence the relationship between CRSV and social capital? This project contributes to filling this gap by developing a theoretical model that links CRSV to social capital. Overall, the proposed theory assumes - in line with existing qualitative work (e.g., Kelly et al. 2011) - that CRSV has deep-cutting, traumatic effects on interpersonal and community relationships and thereby adverse consequences on social capital. In addition to this core hypothesis, several conditional hypotheses are taken into account (e.g., circumstances, gender-related values, taking agency). Empirically, the proposed hypotheses will be scrutinized through a comparative mixed-method design, including qualitative field research and a population-based survey (n=1,000) in Burundi. Burundi experienced a massive civil war between 1993 and 2005, in which approximately 200,000 people were killed and CRSV was perpetrated on a massive scale (Watt 2008; Uvin 2008; Daley 2008). In the proposed survey experiment the applicant will collect quantitative data on CRSV, social capital and related variables and utilize techniques that help overcome social desirability bias (e.g., list experiments).