This project involves political scientists, economists, and medical researchers to address the question of whether hunger, poverty, disease and agricultural resource constraints foster civil conflict and international terrorism. Economists have elucidated the links between among agricultural stagnation, poverty, and food insecurity, and political scientists have empirically analyzed the role of poverty in facilitating civil conflict. To date there has been virtually no work bringing the two perspectives together, nor in exploring their connection to infectious disease and dwindling environmental resources. This project would seek to establish the empirical and policy linkages between the approaches, with the goals of reducing poverty, disease, and violent conflict.

Work on this project during the 2006/07 year will begin with a seminar series exploring such "deadly connections". Completed seminars include:

Jeremy Weinstein, Political Science, Stanford University
Talk title: "AIDS, Security, and Social Stability"

Ted Miguel, Economics, Berkeley
Talk title: "Spring Cleaning: A Randomized Evaluation of Source Water Quality Improvement"

Colin Kahl, Political Science, Georgetown
Talk title: "States, Scarcity, and Civil Strife in the Developing World"

Macartan Humphreys, Political Science, Columbia (CISAC Visiting Fellow)
Talk title: "Poverty and Rebel Recruitment in Liberia's Civil War"

David Battisti, Atmospheric Sciences, U. Washington
Talk title: "Climate change in conflict-prone countries"