Building Sustainable Peace through Business Linkages among Micro-Entrepreneurs: Case Studies of Micro-Enterprises in the North of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Literature on peacebuilding emphasises the need for stakeholders at all levels of society to be engaged in the peace and reconciliation process for peace to be sustainable. Policy-makers around the globe strategically employ entrepreneurship, particularly self-employment and small enterprises development, to economically empower the communities in post-conflict areas. At the same time, researchers in the fields of entrepreneurship and small enterprise development have identified ‘networking’ as an important factor for the success of entrepreneurs. This paper examines the role played by business linkages among micro-entrepreneurs and its contribution to sustainable peacebuilding, including the development of business and social linkages among entrepreneurs from the North of Sri Lanka.

Keywords

peacebuilding and reconciliation post-conflict areas social capital weak ties strong ties social and business networks business linkages micro-enterprise Sri Lanka

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