Global faultlines in the intersections of road transport and armed conflict: A review

Abstract

This article asks the questions: do road transport increase or decrease conflicts in the Global North and South, and is there a Global North–South “faultline” herein defined as a dichotomy in how road transport shapes conflict? It answers this question through a review of literature on this subject. Across the studies reviewed, road and transport infrastructure show a fundamentally dual relationship with conflict. Rather than acting as inherently pacifying or destabilizing, roads operate as ambivalent political technologies whose effects depend on context, institutional strength, and conflict type. The literature consistently shows that road transport can have (i) conflict-reducing effects through connectivity and economic integration, (ii) conflict-increasing effects through enhanced mobility of armed actors and resource capture. However, structurally ambivalent outcomes where both dynamics coexist are the most prevalent. A clear spatial pattern also emerges. It contends that a distinct Global North–South faultline exists in both empirical patterns and scholarly attention. The analysis of the reviewed literature shows a North–South faultline – where Global South cases frequently treat roads as active “conflict-producing interventions” in fragile environments, while Global North studies examine them as “conflict-shaping infrastructures” within more established systems – reflects real differences in state capacity, research focus, and material conditions.