earning capacities (Korpi and Palme, 1998; Chu, Davoodi and Gupta, 2000; Justino, 2003; Rudra, 2004; Thyn, 2006). It leads to better skilled and more productive workers, enhancing the international competitiveness of the economy (Schultz, 1963; Van de Walle, 1996; King, 1998; Gupta and Verhoeven, 2001; Brown and Hunter, 2004; Avelino, Brown and Hunter, 2005; Burgoon, 2006). As social policies improve the quality of life in society and promote wealth, the likelihood of domestic violence will decrease.

Based on the existing quantitative evidence, there seems to be an emerging consensus in the literature that education in particular has a general pacifying effect on conflict (Østby and Urdal, 2010).<sup>12</sup> As discussed above, Thyne (2006) argues that by investing state resources in education governments send a strong signal toward citizens that they are trying to improve their lives.<sup>13</sup> Education creates opportunities for economic development and social equality, each of which lowers grievances that lead to civil war. Education is also argued to increase the opportunity costs for the youth to take up arms (Collier and Hoeffler, 2004). Barakat and Urdal (2009) provide evidence how higher levels of educational attainment increase the opportunity cost for male youth (the key suppliers of rebel labor) to engage in violent conflict and reduce the risk that large male youth bulges are associated with violent conflict.<sup>14</sup> At the micro level, the failure of the Sudanese government to provide educational resources adequately for the southern region has been cited as a major grievance leading to a 22-year-long civil war (Glickman, 2000; Deng, 2001; Breidlid, 2005). Similarly, Richards (2003) places the failure of the government to provide an adequate education at the center of rebel decisions to go to war in Sierra Leone. Brett and Specht (2004), who have been conducting interviews with young soldiers, have found strong micro-level support for the expectation that lack of schooling in addition to poverty, and low alternative income opportunities are important reasons for joining a rebel group. Oyefusi (2008) also finds that low educational attainment significantly increased the willingness of young people to participate in armed struggle for local resource control in the oil-rich Niger Delta in Nigeria.

Furthermore, Thyne (2006) suggests that education promotes social cohesion by encouraging students to cultivate interpersonal skills and thus learn how to resolve disputes peacefully. Such social cohesion enables the country to achieve economic and social stability, which lessens the

> 12 See Østby and Urdal (2010) for an extensive literature review.

> 13 Empirical tests are carried on 160 countries, 1980 - 1999. The dependent variable, civil war onset, is based on Fearon and Laitin (2003). Five variables measure education: total government expenditures allocated to education as a percentage of GDP, primary enrollment rates, secondary enrollment rates, postsecondary enrollment rates, and adult literacy rates. Results show a moderate to strong association between all the education variables and lower conflict risk, with the exception of postsecondary education that does not have any significant effect.

> 14 They use a new global dataset (120 countries, 1970 – 2000) measuring cohort specific educational attainment rates. Violent conflict is operationalized by the UCDP/PRIO low intensity armed conflict. The key finding is that the effect of large young male cohorts on conflict is mitigated by higher secondary education attainment especially in low-middle income societies.

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