Sixteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

This research investigates how enterprises forge political settlements with urban actors and institutions and how such arrangements contribute or mitigate violence in conflict-affected cities. This research presents each of the two cities with case studies of enterprises and their engagement into political settlements as a response to the armed conflict affecting their respective city systems. An important interrogation of this research is how enterprises, as wielders of market power, are able to use political settlements to suit their economic interests. Hence, a focus on the materiality of these arrangements is revealed in this research as the bargains among elite actors and the resultant benefits and entitlements distributed among said elite actors. The performance of enterprises (SMEs) in relation to how political settlements are realized is investigated separately as multiple scales of power and interests that intersect among enterprises and urban institutions are distinct for these two conflict-affected cities. Lastly, this research examines the materiality of these political settlements in terms of entitlements or benefits distributed to enterprises and to relevant urban institutions creating inclusive outcomes that benefit the citizenry in terms of reduced violence, increased labor opportunities, or the expansion of the city’s entrepreneurial space. The materiality of these political settlements can be in the form of incentives or rents that would define enterprise policy or programs within each city.