Doctoral Dissertation Research: Informal Financial Networks in a Conflict Economy

这个项目分析了一个非正式的金融转移系统，它在长期内战中幸存下来并蓬勃发展。 内战的一个令人惊讶的方面是，经济和社会生活在无休止的混乱和动荡面前的承受程度。 研究中的非正规金融体系在战争面前得以延续，甚至有所扩大，尽管正规金融机构大多已经崩溃。 这项研究将探讨该系统如何运作，以及它如何塑造冲突的动态。 该项目将积累关于内战内部动态和驱动因素的知识，这将有助于为制定旨在缓解、预防和终止内战的可行政策提供信息。 该项目的结论将对关心国内冲突的微观动态的一系列决策者和非政府组织有意义，包括平民日常生活如何经历和处理战争的现实，该项目将在邻近战区的两个地点进行人种学研究，以阐明这一金融体系，这是一个不受管制的体系，其基础是代表客户收发现金的经纪人网络，包括难民、人道主义组织、商人和走私者等等。 将采用多种研究方法。 对少数经纪人进行跟踪，以观察其日常业务做法，追踪其跨国网络，并登记其交易模式。 将与经纪人、客户和使用该系统的人道主义非政府组织以及政府监管机构进行半结构化访谈。 定量数据，包括来自系统代理的交易日志数据，也将被检查。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This project analyzes an informal financial transfer system that has survived and flourished in the face of protracted civil war. One surprising aspect of civil war is the degree to which economic and social life endures in the face of interminable dislocation and turmoil. The informal financial system under study has endured and even expanded in the face of war, even as formal institutions have mostly broken down. This research will explore how the system operates and how it has shaped the dynamics of the conflict. The project will build knowledge on the internal dynamics and drivers of civil wars, which will help to inform the development of actionable policies aimed at their mitigation, prevention, and termination. Its conclusions will be of relevance to a range of policymakers and non-governmental organizations interested in the micro-dynamics of civil conflict, including how everyday civilians experience and manage the realities of war.This project will employ ethnographic research in two sites neighboring the war zone to illuminate this financial system, an unregulated system based on networks of brokers who send and receive cash on behalf of their customers, including refugees, humanitarian organization, businessmen, and smugglers, among others. Several research methods will be used. A small number of brokers will be shadowed to observe their daily business practices, trace their transnational networks, and register patterns in their transactions. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with brokers, but also customers and humanitarian NGOs that make use of the system and government regulators. Quantitative data, including transaction log data from system agents, also will be examined.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.