International

Conflict
 The Wars of the World
Largest contemporary wars
Iraq
Western Sudan (Darfur)
Afghanistan
Of the 13 wars, all are in the global South.
All but Colombia and the Philippines are in a zone of
active fighting spanning parts of Africa, South Asia, and
the Middle East.
In five smaller zones, dozens of wars of recent decades
have ended.
Most peace agreements in the worlds postwar zones
are holding up.
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Figure 5.1

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publishing as Longman 2010
 Types of War
Hegemonic war
War over control of the entire world order the rules
of the international system as a whole, including the
role of world hegemony.
Last hegemonic war was World War II
Likely that due to the power of modern weaponry, this
kind of war could not occur any longer without
destroying civilization

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 Types of War
Total war
Warfare by one state waged to conquer and occupy
another
Goal is to reach the capital city and force the
surrender of the government, which can then be
replaced with one of the victors choosing
Napoleonic Wars
Evolved with industrialization, which further integrated
all of society and economy into the practice of war
Last total war: World War II

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 Types of War
Limited war
Includes military actions carried out to gain some
objective short of the surrender and occupation of the
enemy.
War to retake Kuwait from Iraq (1991)
Raids
Limited wars that consist of a single action
Raiding that is repeated or fuels a cycle of retaliation usually
becomes a limited war that is sometimes called a low-
intensity conflict.

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 Types of War
Civil war
Refers to war between factions within a state trying to
create or prevent a new government for the entire
state or some territorial part of it.
U.S. Civil War of the 1960s - secessionist civil war
El Salvador in the 1980s - civil war for control over the
entire state
May often be among the most brutal wars

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 Types of War
Guerrilla war
Includes certain types of civil wars; is warfare without
front lines
Irregular forces operate in the midst of, and often
hidden or protected by, civilian populations.
Purpose is not to confront an enemy army but rather
to harass and punish it so as to gradually limit its
operation and effectively liberate territory from its
control.

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Conflicts of Ideas
Six types of international conflict:
Ethnic
Religious Ideas
Ideological
Territorial
Governmental interests
Economic
Most difficult types of conflict have intangible elements such as
ethnic hatred, religious feeling, or ideology all conflicts of ideas
These identity-based sources of international conflict today have
been shaped historically by nationalism link between identity and
internationally recognized statehood

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Nationalism
Devotion to the interests of ones own
nation over others
May be the most important force in world
politics in the past two centuries
Nationality is a difficult concept to define
precisely.
Historical development of nationalism
Principle of self-determination

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 Ethnic Conflict
Quite possibly the most important source of conflict in
the numerous wars now occurring throughout the world.
Ethnic groups
Large groups of people who share ancestral, language, cultural,
or religious ties and a common identity
Often form the basis for nationalist sentiments
Territorial control
Pressures to redraw borders by force
Outside states concerned about the fate of their people living
as minorities in other state
Ex.: Albanians in Kosovo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, India and Pakistan

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 Control of Governments
Most struggles to control territory do not involve changing borders.
They are conflicts over which governments will control entire states.
In theory, the norm of sovereignty keeps states from interfering in
each others governance.
Not so in practice.
Cold War
Occasionally, one state invades another in order to changes its
government.
Soviet Union --> Czechoslovakia
U.S. --> Iraq
International conflicts over the control of governance usually lead to
violence.

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 Religious Conflict
Because religion is the Islamist movements
core of a communitys Islamist groups
value system in much of Turkey
the world, people whose Nationalist movements
religious practices differ expressed through
are easily disregard and religious channels
treated as unworthy or
even inhuman.
Fundamentalist
movements
Secular political
organizations

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 Ideological Conflict
Ideology symbolizes and intensifies conflicts between
groups and states more than it causes them.
Because they have a somewhat weaker hold on core values and
absolute truth than religions do, they pose somewhat fewer
problems for the international system.
China Maoist communism in 1949; Russias Leninist
communism in 1917, U.S. democracy in 1776
All eventually went on to pursue national interests rather than
ideological ones
Angola
Ideologies can mobilize national populations

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 Conflicts of Interest
Territorial disputes
Means of controlling territory primarily military
Secession province or region leaving an existing state
Ethnic cleansing - driving out or massacre of designated ethnic population
Interstate borders
Role of the norm of territorial integrity
Remaining disputes Israeli borders; Kashmir; Spratly Islands;
Okinotori; Falkland Islands; Kuril Islands
Territorial waters part of national territory
UNCLOS
EEZs
Airspace

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publishing as Longman 2010
Economic Conflict
Economic competition is the most lasting form of
conflict in international relations because
economic transactions are continuing.
Such transactions contain a strong element of
mutual economic gain.
Usually do not lead to military force and war
But this was not always the case historically

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