Microfinance during conflict: Iraq, 2003–2007

Abstract

The Government of Iraq (GoI) and the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq have used microfinance institutions (MFIs) as part of their counterinsurgency campaign. This raises several questions. What role can MFIs play in counterinsurgency? Are the economic or civilian and military motivations for supporting microfinance convergent or divergent? What constraints does conflict impose on microfinance borrowers, lenders, and institutions and how can an MFI ameliorate these constraints? Analyzing these issues is the core of this chapter.

Citation

Gunter, F.R. (2009), "Microfinance during conflict: Iraq, 2003–2007", Watkins, T.A. and Hicks, K. (Ed.) Moving Beyond Storytelling: Emerging Research in Microfinance (Contemporary Studies in Economic and Financial Analysis, Vol. 92), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 183-214. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1569-3759(2009)0000092009