Can War Foster Cooperation?

Abstract

In the past decade, nearly 20 studies have found a strong, persistent pattern in surveys and behavioral experiments from over 40 countries: individual exposure to war violence tends to increase social cooperation at the local level, including community participation and prosocial behavior. Thus while war has many negative legacies for individuals and societies, it appears to leave a positive legacy in terms of local cooperation and civic engagement. We discuss, synthesize, and reanalyze the emerging body of evidence and weigh alternative explanations. There is some indication that war violence enhances in-group or “parochial” norms and preferences especially, a finding that, if true, suggests that the rising social cohesion we document need not promote broader peace.

Trusting Former Rebels: An Experimental Approach to Understanding Reintegration after Civil War

“…Our results are broadly consistent with recent theories (Choi and Bowles, ) and emerging micro‐level evidence (Bauer et al ., ) linking war and the development of altruism and other forms of local cooperation. Given the need for group cohesion during inter‐group fighting, the preferences of former child soldiers may have adapted to the war environment.…”

“…So far, researchers have tested the question of whether conflict can be the source of altruism and trustworthiness among civilians who have been differentially exposed to war. The evidence suggests that greater exposure reduces selfishness and increases pro‐social behaviour towards in‐group members (Bellows and Miguel, ; Voors et al ., ; Gilligan et al ., ; Bauer et al ., , ). We contribute to this literature by studying this question among former child soldiers who were forced to take an active part in a brutal insurgent group and who thus happened to grow up, in part, in an environment which arguably shares many features with fighting bands that characterised much of our evolutionary history (Bowles, ).…”

Can Crime Foster Social Participation as Conflict Can?*

“…Recent research about civil war has revealed intriguing findings about civic engagement. Against conventional intuitions, several scholars have found that exposure to armed conflict can increase pro‐social behavior (Bauer et al., ). Explanations for this finding have often drawn on the social dynamics that are common to conflict: Conflict might affect the social interaction between community members, leading to more in‐group bonding and parochial altruism (Bowles, ); conflict might change the social composition of communities, with more cooperative people staying than leaving (Gilligan, Pasquale, and Samii, ); also, conflict might push people to social participation as a form of imposed collaboration with armed actors or resistance to them (Gáfaro, Ibáñez, and Justino, ).…”

Early‐Life Circumstances Predict Measures of Trust among Adults: Evidence from Hunger Episodes in Post‐War Germany

“…The effect of the caloric rations variable remains negative and significant. Being born before May 1945 has a positive and significant effect on trust, which is perhaps surprising but in line with recent research showing that war experiences might foster cooperation (Bauer et al ., ). Being born during the hunger episode (i.e., after the end of the war and before December 1950) has a small positive, but insignificant coefficient.…”