Nominator's project description
| Anke Hoeffler is one of the most frequently-cited social scientists in the world. An economist and political scientist, her research focuses on violence, conflict and civil wars as well as their economic consequences. A study she was involved in on the economic impact of violence and armed conflict attracted considerable interest. It reveals that domestic violence is responsible for the highest costs worldwide – fifty times higher than the financial losses caused by civil wars. Thus, domestic violence, a form of violence that has received relatively little attention to date, emerges as the most expensive one. A significant contribution to academic and public debate has also been made by the “greed and grievance” approach which Anke Hoeffler developed with the British migration researcher Paul Collier: they investigated whether civil wars were mainly caused by people suffering political oppression, for example, or for religious or ideological reasons, or to what extent economic aspects such as advantageous financing favoured rebellion. In her role as a Humboldt Professor, Anke Hoeffler will reinforce conflict and development research at the University of Konstanz where she will be the hub of a proposed centre for “Conflict Research and Development Policy”. Research is envisaged on topics like the situation in Liberia and the treatment of Syrian refugees in Jordan. |
