READING OUTLINE CHAPTER 5
I.
The Wars of the World
A.
Types of War
1.
Hegemonic
2.
Total
3.
Limited
4.
Raids, low-intensity conflict
5.
Civil
6.
Guerrilla
7.
Violence of war
8.
Transition from war to peace a.
b.
Postwar reconciliation
Conflict resolution c.
d.
Transitional governments representing opposing factions
Economic reconstruction e.
f.
g.
Security Sector Reform
Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration
Truth commissions
B.
Causes of War
1.
Individual level of analysis a.
Rational decisions of leaders b.
Deviations from rationality
2.
Domestic level of analysis a.
b.
Capitalist vs. communist states
Rich industrialized vs. poor agrarian c.
b.
Democratic peace
3.
Interstate level of analysis a.
Power transition theory
Statistical probabilities of war – effects of democracy, government structure, trade, international organizations
4.
Global level of analysis a.
Major warfare is cyclical – long economic waves (Kondratieff b.
c.
cycles)
100-year cycle based on creation and decay of world orders
Opposite approach – linear long-term change in the propensity for war – war becoming less likely over time due to development of technology and international norms – war and military force becoming obsolete as means of leverage
5.
Competing theories on all levels of analysis – cannot predict with confidence which of world’s many international conflicts will lead to war
II.
Conflicts of Ideas

A.
Most difficult types of conflict in which intangible elements such as ethnic hatred, religious fervor, or ideology come into play
B.
Identity-based sources of international conflict shaped historically by nationalism as the link between identity and internationally recognized statehood
1.
Nationalism – devotion to the interests of one’s own nation over others
2.
May be the more important forces in world politics in the past two centuries
3.
Nation – a population that shares an identity, usually including a language and culture
4.
Around 1500, countries such as France and Austria began to bring entire nations together into single states
5.
Self-determination – people who identify as a nation should have the right to form a state and exercise sovereignty over their affairs – widely accepted in international affairs today, but secondary to principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity
C.
Ethnic conflict
1.
Ethnic groups – large groups of people who share ancestral, language, cultural, or religious ties and a common identity a.
b.
Often form basis for nationalist sentiments
Territorial control closely tied to aspiration of ethnic groups for statehood c.
Some ethnic groups lack any home state (Kurds)
2.
In ethnic conflicts there is often pressure to redraw borders by force
3.
When ethnic populations are minorities in territories controlled by rival ethnic groups, they may be driven from their land (ethnic cleansing) or systematically exterminated (genocide)
4.
Causes of ethnic hostility a.
Long-standing historical conflict over specific territories or natural resources or over one ethnic group’s economic exploitation or political domination of another b.
Kinship group – group identity – ethnocentrism (in-group bias)
5.
Genocide a.
Rwanda b.
Sudan
D.
Religious conflict
1.
Religion is the core of a community’s value system in much of the world
– people whose religious practices differ are easily disdained and treated as unworthy or even inhuman
2.
When overlaid on ethnic and territorial conflicts, religion often surfaces as the central and most visible division between groups
3.
Nothing inherent in religion mandates conflicts
4.
Fundamentalist movements – members organize their lives and communities around their religions beliefs a.
Willing to sacrifice and even die for those beliefs

b.
c.
Larger and more powerful in recent decades in Christianity,
Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and other religions
Challenge values and practices of secular political organizations – those created apart from religious establishments
5.
Islamist movements a.
Sunni Muslims (the majority) and Shi’ite Muslims
(concentrated in Iran, southern Iraq, southern Lebanon, b.
c.
d.
Bahrain)
Advocate basing government and society on Islamic law
Some groups anti-Western
Follow in a long tradition of global North-South conflict – struggle against colonialism and for the world’s poor countries and people
6.
Armed Islamist groups a.
Some Sunni, some Shi’ite – in some cases violently disagree with each other b.
Cases of Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, al Qaeda, Palestine, others
E.
Ideological conflict
1.
Like religion, ideology symbolizes and intensifies conflicts between groups and states more than it causes them
2.
Revolutionary governments typically turn to pursuit of national interests above ideological ones
3.
Ideologies can help to mobilize national populations to support a state in its international dealings
III.
Conflicts of Interest
A.
Conflicts about material interests are somewhat easier to settle than conflicts of ideas, based on the reciprocity principle
B.
Territorial disputes
1.
Conflicts about territory have special importance because of the territorial nature of the state
2.
Border disputes – irredentism
3.
Means of controlling territory – military means – strong norm against trying to alter borders by force
4.
Secession – typically domestic problems of little concern to other states
– messy when multinational states break up into pieces
5.
Interstate borders – few remaining border conflicts remain among longestablished states
6.
Lingering disputes – Israel, Kashmir, Peru/Ecuador, Spratly Islands,
Japan/China, number of smaller conflicts
7.
Territorial waters
UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) a.
b.
c.
3-mile limit – territory of state
12-mile limit – shipping

d.
200-mile limit – exclusive economic zone (EEZ) – fishing and mineral rights
8. Airspace – considered territory of the state
9. Outer space – international territory
C.
Control of governments
1.
Most struggles to control territory are conflicts over which governments will control entire states
2.
In theory, states do not interfere in each other’s governance because of norm of sovereignty
3.
In practice, states often have strong interests in the governments of other states and use a variety of means of leverage to influence who holds power
4.
Cold War – superpowers actively promoted changes of government in countries of the global South through covert operations and support of rebel armies
5.
Occasionally, one state invades another in order to change its government
D.
Economic conflict
1.
Economic competition is most pervasive form of conflict in IR because economic transactions are pervasive
2.
Economic transactions also contain strong element of mutual economic gain
3.
Use of violence would for the most part interrupt and diminish profits – economic conflicts do not usually lead to military force and war
4.
Economic conflicts do still bear on international security a.
Mercantilism – trade surplus confers an advantage in b.
international security affairs over the long run
Theory of lateral pressure – economic growth of states leads to geographic expansion as they seek natural resources beyond c.
their borders
Military industry – world trade in military equipment, but national governments try to keep control of such production, exports d.
Trade in strategic minerals – needed for military purposes, few countries self-sufficient in these materials, sensitivity and vulnerability e.
Distribution of wealth within and among states – potential for violence, revolution
5. Drug trafficking