Causes Of Civil Conflict

3333 Words7 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Cause of ethnic conflict

Introduction
Civil conflict has been a focal point of the world’s attention in the post-Cold War Era, with news coverage of human rights violations, poverty, and casualties. This era has brought a systemic change from interstate wars to intra state wars. Civil conflicts may be arguably more severe than interstate wars because of the use of rebels, the lack of organized forces, and issues of sovereignty. The specific topic of this research is conflict and in particular, the causes of civil conflict.
The question this research will address is why are states failing? Further, do failed states cause internal conflict? This question has extreme importance because of the implications this conflict has for not only its own civilians, but of those around it. Conflicts can cause a multitude of human rights violations, as well as displaced populations resulting in refugees, and overall tension in the region. Understanding the answer to this question helps policymakers make more informed decisions surrounding failed states in order to protect themselves and those within the failed state.
This paper will address what political scientists have studied about the effects of colonization, explanations for how states fail, and the various causes of civil war. The theory and hypotheses of this paper will be stated, followed by descriptions and measurements of the independent, dependent, and control variables. Then, using statistical data, results will be presented, followed by the conclusion.
Literature Review
State failure has become a key issue in international relations in recent years. Political scientists have offered various explanations as to why states have failed, and possible solutions to stop and reverse state failure.
Robert...

... middle of paper ...

...n the recognized territory of a state (Sarkees and Wayman, 2010). For the war to be included in the data set it must involve sustained combat, involving organized armed forces, resulting in a minimum of 1,000 battle-related combatant fatalities within a twelve month period (Sarkees and Wayman, 2010).
The UCDP/PRIO dataset requires a lesser threshold. The wars included in the internal armed conflict data set are those that occur between the government if a state and internal opposition groups without intervention from other states, resulting in at least 25 battle related deaths (Gleditsch, Wallensteen, Eriksson, Sollenberg, Strand, 2002).
Using quantitative research, I predict there will be a causal relationship between previously colonized states, and their present failure. I also predict there to be a causal relationship between failed states and civil conflict.

Show More
Related

  • What Caused The Civil War Dbq Analysis

    687 Words  | 2 Pages

    Certain situations in history have impacted the future that we have come to know. The Civil War began in 1861 because of how divided they were with decisions that would impact the whole country. They tried to resolve some issues with the three fifths compromise in 1787, but it didn’t last long before both sides feared that one would one day overpower the other.Certain major situations evoked the Civil War. The three primary conflicts between the North and the South that initiated the Civil War were slavery, economic conflicts, and politics.

    Read More

  • What Caused The Civil War Dbq

    554 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the 1860’s the United States weren’t united because of the issue of slavery. The civil war was never just about getting the union back together, but about making it count and getting rid of slavery. The south wanted their slaves and would say they are “-the happiest, and in some, the freest people in the world”. (Doc 5) However, the north knew that was not true because of Harriet Beecher Stowe's “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. In 1854 when the Kansas-Nebraska act was passed it caused some issues. Anti-slavery supporters were not happy because they did not want expansion of slavery, but the pro-slavery supporters weren’t happy because they wanted slavery everywhere for sure. (Doc. 7)The Kansas-Nebraska act caused trouble before it was even passed, Senator Charles Sumner argued against and attacked pro-slavery men causing Preston Brooks to beat Sumner with a cane. The south praised Brooks while the north felt for Sumner. (Doc 8) In 1858 during his acceptance speech Lincoln said his famous line, “A house divided

    Read More

  • Causes of War: Systemic vs. Domestic

    1789 Words  | 4 Pages

    The purpose of this essay is to inform on the similarities and differences between systemic and domestic causes of war. According to World Politics by Jeffry Frieden, David Lake, and Kenneth Schultz, systemic causes deal with states that are unitary actors and their interactions with one another. It can deal with a state’s position within international organizations and also their relationships with other states. In contract, domestic causes of war pertain specifically to what goes on internally and factors within a state that may lead to war. Wars that occur between two or more states due to systemic and domestic causes are referred to as interstate wars.

    Read More

  • Does Nonviolence Work on a Large Scale?

    1807 Words  | 4 Pages

    Rethinking Violence: States and Non-state Actors in Conflict. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2010. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed April 22, 2014).

    Read More

  • Non-State Political Violence: Occurrence and Justifications

    1814 Words  | 4 Pages

    Political violence is action taken to achieve political goals that may include armed revolution, civil strife, terrorism, war or other such activities that could result in injury, loss of property or loss of life. Political violence often occurs as a result of groups or individuals believing that the current political systems or anti-democratic leadership, often being dictatorial in nature, will not respond to their political ambitions or demands, nor accept their political objectives or recognize their grievances. Formally organized groups, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), businesses and collectives of individual citizens are non-state actors, that being that they are not locally, nationally or internationally recognized legitimate civilian or military authorities. The Cotonou Agreement of 2000 defines non-state actors as being those parties belonging to the private sector, economic and social partners and civil society in all its forms according to national characteristics. Historical observation shows that nation states with political institutions that are not capable of, or that are resistant to recognizing and addressing societies issues and grievances are more likely to see political violence manifest as a result of disparity amongst the population. This essay will examine why non-state political violence occurs including root and trigger causes by looking at the motivations that inspire groups and individuals to resort to non-conforming behaviors that manifest as occurrences of non-state political violence. Using terrorism and Islamic militancy on the one side, and human rights and basic freedoms on the other as examples, it will look at these two primary kinds of political violence that are most prevalent in the world ...

    Read More

  • Causes of the American Civil War

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    For generations students have been taught an over-simplified version of the civil war and even now I am just coming to a full understanding of the truth. The civil war was a terrible rift in our nation, fought between the northern states (known as the union) and the southern states (the Confederate States of America). The people’s opinions were so divided over the issues of the civil war that, in some families, brother was pit against brother. Eventually, the south succumbed to the north and surrendered on April 9th, 1865 but not before the war had caused 618,000 deaths, more than any other war in U.S. history.(1) In truth, many believe this horrible war was fought purely over the issue of slavery. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am not denying that slavery was a major cause and issue of the civil war, but social and economic differences as well as states’ rights were just as important issues and I will be discussing all three.

    Read More

  • Causes of The American Civil War

    2128 Words  | 5 Pages

    The war is the unfolding of miscalculations." -Barbara Tuchman Lasting from 1861 to 1865, the Civil War is considered the bloodiest war in American history. However, the Civil War had seemingly been a long time coming. There were many events that took place within the fifteen years leading up to the Civil War that foreshadowed the eventual secession of seven “cotton states” from the Union.

    Read More

  • Causes of the Civil War

    664 Words  | 2 Pages

    A major conflict in the United States’ history is the American Civil War. Many causes led to the Civil War. This all happened around the mid 1800s. It was a conflict between the Northern and Southern states.

    Read More

  • History Of Irregular Warfare

    848 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since World War II, by one count, there have been more than 80 irregular conflicts. They include civil wars in Rwanda and Somalia, guerrilla wars in Sudan, and rebellions in Chechnya; they involve irregular elements fighting against other irregular elements, regular forces of a central government, or an external intervention force. The acquisition and use of modern military technology is often seen as a solution to the problems of warfare in the late 20th century, with information warfare the latest example. Irregular warfare, however, remains perplexingly unaffected by changes in technology. In an irregular conflict, sociology, psychology, and history will have more to say about the nature of the conflict, including its persistence and intensity.

    Read More

  • Conflict and Corruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo

    1388 Words  | 3 Pages

    Atzili, Boaz. (2007). When Good Fences Make Bad Neighbors: Fixed Borders, State Weakeness, and International Conflict. International Security. 31 (3), p139-173.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Causes Of American Civil War

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is civil war? Many people have this question. Some are wrong, and some are right. Civil war is caused through one countries internal issue (Civil War Causes Fact Monster). Examples could be: political issue social issues, or even issues of equality between races in one country. Some of these events are the causes of the American civil war. Let’s start with some of the effects of the war.The American civil war was the most costly war ever fought on American soil. It took a long time for the American society to become stable after to the war. Along with that,out of the 2.4 million solders’ that fought in the war, 620,000 of them were killed during the war.Millions were injured (The History Channel Website). Millions of families were affected after this catastrophic event. Millions upon millions of families lost the man of the house to earn money for the family to survive. At this time period, most families depended on the men to provide for the family.

    Read More

  • Transnational Social Movements, International Nongovernmental Organizations

    2182 Words  | 5 Pages

    My answer to these two questions is threefold: First, I assert that TSMs and INGOs can and have posed substantial normative challenges to state hegemony, most commonly the notion that the state enjoys a monopoly on representation of its citizens and their interests. Furthermore, TSMs and INGOs that employ the use of violence (particularly terrorism) breach the conventional notion that states...

    Read More

  • Political Realism

    2261 Words  | 5 Pages

    People’s ideas and assumptions about world politics shape and construct the theories that help explain world conflicts and events. These assumptions can be classified into various known theoretical perspectives; the most dominant is political realism. Political realism is the most common theoretical approach when it is in means of foreign policy and international issues. It is known as “realpolitik” and emphasis that the most important actor in global politics is the state, which pursues self-interests, security, and growing power (Ray and Kaarbo 3). Realists generally suggest that interstate cooperation is severely limited by each state’s need to guarantee its own security in a global condition of anarchy. Political realist view international politics as a struggle for power dominated by organized violence, “All history shows that nations active in international politics are continuously preparing for, actively involved in, or recovering from organized violence in the form of war” (Kegley 94). The downside of the political realist perspective is that their emphasis on power and self-interest is their skepticism regarding the relevance of ethical norms to relations among states.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Why Nations Fail

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    Why Nations Fail takes an in depth look into why some countries flourish and become rich powerful nations while other countries are left in or reduced to poverty. Throughout this book review I will discuss major arguments and theories used by the authors and how they directly impact international development, keeping in mind that nations are only as strong as their political and economical systems.

    Read More

  • What is State Formation and How Does It Occur?

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    In order to answer the question concerning the formation of states, it is necessary to clarify what constitutes a state; the Oxford English Dictionary defines a state as ‘a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government’. There are a number of ways and processes in which to analyse what state formation is, why they have formed and the way in which this has occurred. State emergence can be traced back to the creation of territorial boundaries in medieval Europe, such as the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, and its transition to a modern state can be attributed to the introduction of gunpowder in war (Hague & Harrop, 2010: 64). The formations of states have also been influenced by the growth of bureaucracy, administration and organisations. There are different theories as to the reason why states form, a certain few of which can be divided into the categories of rationalist, culturalist and structuralist perspectives. In this essay, these perspectives shall enter the debate in trying to justify the reason for state formation and the way in which it occurs. The most prominent feature in the formation of states appears to be the prevention and engagement of a state in war and its following consequences.

    Read More

More about Causes Of Civil Conflict

Open Document