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Rejecting building information modeling (BIM) can negatively impact the architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) industries. While BIM is trending globally, its implementation in post-conflict low-income economies is still limited. The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical factors for implementing BIM in a post-conflict low-income economy, using Afghanistan as a case study.

This study identifies potential affecting factors for BIM implementation through reviewing existing literature and interviewing AEC professionals in Afghanistan. Then, the factors are inserted into a questionnaire survey and disseminated with Afghanistan’s AEC practitioners. The collected data was analyzed to determine the critical factors. Also, the underlying relationships between the critical factors were established through factor analysis.

A total of 11 critical factors are affecting BIM implementation in Afghanistan. From those, nine factors can be grouped into the following three components: technological, environmental and organizational. Two factors, “cost-benefit of implementing BIM” and “market demand for BIM,” are recurring in low- and middle-income economies. Conversely, the “presence of appropriate projects to implement BIM” is the unique critical factor for Afghanistan that might affect other post-conflict low-income economies.

This study focuses on affecting factors for BIM implementation in post-conflict low-income economies, using Afghanistan as a reference rather than other types of economies that have been widely studied.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the conditions of entrepreneurship in transition and post-conflict societies, using Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) as a case study. There are many features of this country which make it an interesting case such. It was once a part of Yugoslavia and had a socialist regime. Post-socialism, B&H turned to creating and maintaining a market-based economy, making it a transition country. Lastly, the transition process has been disturbed and delayed due to the war that began in 1992.

The author chose a single case study research design to present a unique case and to give in-depth analysis. The author has used the method of data triangulation to increase reliability and credibility of the case study research.

The case study's findings reveal that three types of conditions influence entrepreneurship in B&H: socio-political, economic and legal. The paper has several implications; more specifically, inter alia, it has helped understand complexity of transitional environments and the implications of the same on entrepreneurship development.

The paper adds to the existing literature on factors affecting entrepreneurial activity within a post-conflict context by simplifying categorization into three broad categories. By doing so, the paper emphasizes particular areas obstructing the development of the enterprise sector in B&H.

The quality of institutions matters for firm growth. Yet, there is a research gap in controlling for moderating effect of size on institutions and firm growth in transitional context and especially in post-conflict economies. Building on institutional theory, this research aims to explore the influence of different types of institutional variables (taxes, corruption, administrative, finance and other barriers) on the growth of firms in Kosovo, while controlling for the firm size moderating effect.

The research uses linear regression analysis based on a survey with 451 owner-managers of growing small firms in the post-conflict economy of Kosovo.

Corruption and administrative burden are crucial factors that influence firm growth. Corruption is found to have a negative effect, and when moderated by the size of the firm, it becomes positive, suggesting that larger firms make use of informal institutions and create links with public officials to manage institutional deficiencies. This size interaction with administrative barrier variables becomes positive. Other control variables (export status, separation of ownership and control, membership in business association) suggest that managerial-level variables have a positive impact on firm growth. The human capital variable specifically indicates that companies compensate for a deficiency in formal education by providing additional training for employees and their managers.

Future research based on qualitative research can contribute to a greater understanding of how larger firms use resources to overcome barriers, and to align their business strategies in the weak post-conflict environments.

This research extends current understanding of how institutional variables interact with firm size and impact firm growth. It also provides implications for policymakers and entrepreneurs/managers for improving the growth of SMEs, and for aligning firms with the institutional environment in post-conflict countries.

This paper aims to explore the state-building attempts in post conflict zones. The neoliberal economic system has dominated the key international organizations such that the latter have designed their approaches for state building based on it. The framework of these approaches focuses on minimal state interventions in the economy and free markets by being as a “one size fits all”. However, several prominent financial institutions such as the United Nations, World Bank and International Monetary Fund that have implemented some of these approaches in various regions resulted in limited success.

This paper is comparing two cases of state building before statehood and sovereignty, and this comparison comes in socioeconomic practices of international players and local governments.

This model has been carried out in Palestine and Kosovo but failed in meeting the expected demands of independence and prosperity. Instead, it resulted in more failures in the markets and caused a decline in the macro and micro economic indicators.

The key reasons for such failures, specifically in Palestine and Kosovo, are believed to be related to the top-down approach of policy-making, the lack of independence and sovereignty and the absence of popular and local participation in policies and plans. In such context, this approach has to be further revised to create a more inclusive participatory and representative model.

Capacity building in fragile and post‐conflict situations is specially challenging for policy makers in that it represents a situation that needs to be carefully managed. Understanding the dynamic link between capacity building and conflict requires understanding the nature and determinants of conflicts, their duration, intensity and the modalities for their cessation and post‐conflict reconstruction. This study attempted to do that from systemic or theoretical perspective. A major common theme that runs across the literature is that post‐conflict recovery and sustainable development and the associated capacity building exercise in Africa need to have the following four feature: (1) first a broad development planning framework with a fairly long‐time horizon and an overarching objective of poverty reduction; (2) second, social policy‐making in such countries is expected to be distinct from non‐conflict countries. This signals the need to articulate country specific policies and (3) third, intervention in such states requires a high volume of aid flows and (4) forth it need to be preceded by deeper understanding of African societies by donors. This study by outlining such basic issues from theoretical perspective resorted to an outline of three core areas of capacity building that are needed in post‐conflict and fragile states: capacity building to address immediate needs of post‐conflict states, capacity building to address the core economic and political causes of conflict, as well as, capacity building to address issues of finance and financial sector reconstruction. Each of these aspects is discussed in detail in the study. The study underscores the need to view and understand capacity building exercise as part and parcel of a broad developmental problem which requires broader developmental solutions.

Post-conflict economies are characterized by high, and often growing, levels of debt. At the same time, peace is particularly fragile in the aftermath of a conflict. This chapter studies how debt affects the risk of war in the 10 years that follow the end of a previous conflict. After controlling for per-capita income and other economic, political, and geographical factors, external debt is found to increase the risk of war. Conversely, the effect of domestic debt is negligible. The policy implication for the international community is clear: debt relief helps stabilize peace in war-torn economies.

There have recently been concerted efforts by many post‐conflict African countries to formulate and implement policies and measures that will reconstruct and develop their societies. Much of the discussions of realizing post‐conflict reconstruction and development have generally focused on disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of ex‐combatants. What is however, missing is a discussion on capacity development and capacity building initiatives to help in reconstruction in the period after DDR. This paper therefore examines the importance of capacity development in post‐conflict African environment. It notes that while demobilising and disarming warring factions is important, the success of reconstruction efforts in a post‐conflict environment depends largely on the ability to build and develop capacity and skills that are pertinent to helping reconstruct and promote the development goals of the countries. It is argued that post‐conflict societies should have a coherent and co‐ordinate approach to rebuilding, reconstructing and developing the capacity of the state in order to achieve the state’s legitimacy and effectiveness. Such capacity development measures should involve the development of physical infrastructure; the building of the state’s institutional structures; the promotion of good political and economic governance; skills and education training for individuals; and measures to improve and deliver security and social services.

Purpose – The chapter studies the impact of fiscal policy on the stabilisation of peace in the aftermath of a civil war.

Methodology – We use data from African war-torn countries and study the issue of post-conflict stabilisation from an empirical perspective. We employ probit analysis to formally estimate the effect of fiscal policy on the probability of maintaining peace in the post-conflict period.

Findings – The success of post-conflict transition does not require downsizing the government. On the contrary, successful post-conflict transitions are on average characterised by an increase in the size of the government. However, both expenditures and revenues increase at a comparable pace. Moreover, in successful post-conflict transitions, the increase in government size involves an increase in the incidence of capital expenditure relative to government consumption. On the revenue side, budgetary grants appear to strengthen the chances of success. A heavier debt burden does not seem to compromise the probability of successfully completing the post-conflict transition.

Research limitations/implications – Future research should (i) extend the sample to non-African countries, (ii) extend the analysis to other macroeconomic policy variables and (iii) supplement cross-country analysis on the role of fiscal policy with country case studies. A potential application of the findings of this chapter is the construction of a model to predict the evolution of currently ongoing post-conflict transitions.

Social implications – The findings bear implications on how governments should conduct fiscal policy in the aftermath of a conflict. They also provide guidelines for the international community on how best to assist post-conflict economies.

Originality – Papers concerned with the determinants of peace in the post-conflict period do not generally look at the potential contribution of fiscal policy. This chapter is the first attempt, to the best of our knowledge, to provide econometric evidence on the role of fiscal policy as a possible driver of peace stabilisation in the aftermath of a conflict.

Rehabilitation and reconstruction of social and economic infrastructure in a post-conflict environment are complex, long-debated issues in development cooperation. In addition to war creating large-scale human suffering, generating refugees, displacing populations, engendering psychological distress, obliterating infrastructure and transforming the economy, in post-conflict situations, deepening chaos and disorder can be found at the highest social, economic and political levels; serious developmental challenges remain insufficiently addressed. Repairing war-damaged infrastructure in order to reactivate the local economy is a challenge for all post-conflict countries. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The study was designed to examine planning and execution of post-conflict reconstruction (PCR). The use of a mixed-method research approach combining both quantitative and qualitative data collection was used to explore planning and implementation of PCR infrastructure projects in Kosovo. The data collection in the field was undertaken for a period of eight weeks, from July to September 2008. A total of 420 respondents were involved in the study process, as follows: key informants (four), pilot test (12), semi-structured interviews (36), project manager/engineers survey (231), chief of mission/country director survey (117), and focus group (20). To meet the needs of the society and recognise the required functional components of project management, the overall contexts of managing projects in a post-conflict environment have been discussed in the study.

Planning and implementing reconstruction projects in areas affected by conflict have proven to be far more challenging than expected and responses by practitioners, aid agencies, and government regarded as inadequate. The changing political, economic, and social factors in Kosovo after the war in 1999 have had a significant influence on the limited adoption of a project management methodology in development and reconstruction projects. The findings from the exploratory study were aimed at improving understanding of the planning, pre-designing, and implementation of infrastructure projects. The findings indicated a need to promote a better understanding of how projects are undertaken at all levels of the organisation, and to describe processes, procedures, and tools used for the actual application of projects. The findings of the study identified a poor quality of planning and implementation of reconstruction projects in an environment of complexity, change, and uncertainty. The study also raised some very significant findings for a broader approach to community involvement in project identification, planning, and implementation. Infrastructure projects implemented in Kosovo were used to develop a conceptual framework for designing projects and programmes more likely to yield positive outcomes for post-conflict society.

The study was done by the researcher in Kosovo.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the telecommunications policy process in immediate post‐conflict countries and how that process differs from traditional settings.

The authors consider the case of Liberia, a country that recently emerged from a protracted civil war. The authors focus on the Liberian Telecommunications Act of 2007 and the processes through which this act came about by applying a modified research framework. This framework identifies several factors in the literature that are posited to influence the policymaking process in developing countries. The authors also include other factors based on previous studies in post‐conflict countries. The aim is to test the usefulness of this framework using the 2007 act. The authors apply it through the use of interviews with key actors in the government, industry, and international agencies. This was supplemented by secondary data from published reports and other sources.

From the framework the authors identify the main factors influencing the telecoms policy making process in Liberia such as a weak and nascent institutional environment, intra‐governmental competition, limited human and technical resources, the supportive (especially initially) role of the international actors such as the World Bank, and the dominance of elite groups in decision‐making. The authors then make suggestions on overcoming some of existing challenges to the sector.

This paper looks at the intersection of research in telecommunications policy, policy processes and post‐conflict countries, an area in which there is currently very little work. The results indicate that several dimensions of the framework are germane to the post‐conflict case and that some of these observations are also relevant to the future development of telecommunications in these countries.