Bad Neighbors, Conflict and Economic Growth: A qualitative analysis of the economic spillover effects of Sudan’s intrastate conflict on Egypt’s economic growth

Abstract: With the increased internationalization of conflicts during recent decades and the accompanying clustering of the predatory social conditions of new war economies in vulnerable neighborhoods around the world, studying the impacts of economic spillover effects of conflicts are more pressing than ever. This study seeks to investigate what economic spillover effects one such conflict – the intrastate conflict of Sudan – had on its neighboring state, Egypt’s economic growth. This with the aim to contribute to previous research on the economic spillover effects of intrastate conflict by including context and temporality in a qualitative analysis of a specific case rather than quantitatively analyzing a larger sample. By deepening the understanding of how neighboring states’ economic growth individually is impacted by the economic spillover effect, the ambition is to aid the future development of more specific policy and aid recommendations for affected states. The findings show that the economic spillover effects of Sudan’s intrastate conflict did not significantly impact Egypt’s overall economic growth. However, small possible spillover effects can be detected through the channels of capital, labor and trade.