International Conflict
CHAPTER FIVE
Dr. Clayton Thyne
PS 235-001: World Politics
Spring 2010
Goldstein & Pevehouse,
International Relations, 8/e
Student notes version
•
•
•
•
Largest contemporary wars:
•
•
•
Of the 11 wars, all but Chechnya (Russia) are in the
________________________________.
All but Colombia are in a zone of active fighting
spanning parts of Africa, South Asia, and the Middle
East.
Most peace agreements in the world’s postwar
zones are _____________________________.
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 _________________
• Likely that due to the power of modern
weaponry, this kind of war could not occur any
longer without destroying civilization
Types of War: Total War
• Def:
• Goal is to…
• Evolved with industrialization, which further integrated all
of society and economy into the practice of war
• Example:
• Last total war:
Types of War: Limited War
• Includes military actions carried out to…
• Example:
• Raids:
–
–
Types of War: Civil War
• Refers to war between…
– U.S. Civil War of the 1860s – El Salvador in the 1980s –
• May often be among the most brutal wars
• __________ million deaths from 1945 to 1999
– Compared to ________ million deaths for interstate
wars
• Last _________ years on average
– Compared to ____________ months for interstate
wars
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:
The “Ripple Effects” of Civil War
Instances of Civil War Onset, 1946-04
Causes of War: Approaches
• The question of why war breaks out can be
approached in different ways.
–
–
• Broad generalizations about the causes of war
have been _________________.
• Wars do not have a single or simple cause.
• Levels of analysis can help us organize theories
of war.
Causes of War: Individual & Domestic Explanations
• Individual level of analysis:
– Rational decisions of leaders:
– Deviations from rationality:
• The domestic level of analysis:
Causes of War: Interstate Explanations
• Interstate level:
– Power transition theory:
– Deterrence:
– Arms race:
– No general formula has been discovered to tell us in what
circumstances each of these principles holds true.
Causes of War: Global Explanations
• Global level of analysis:
• Several variations on the idea that major warfare in the
international system is cyclical.
– One approach links wars with long economic waves in the world
economy (~50 years)
– Another approach links the largest wars with a 100-year cycle
based on the creation and decay of world orders.
• These cycle theories at best can…
• Theory of linear long-term change:
Conflicts of Ideas
• Six types of international conflict:
– Conflicts over less/non-tangible material interests:
•
•
•
– Conflicts over tangible material interests:
•
•
•
• Most difficult types of conflict have…
• These identity-based sources of international conflict today have
been shaped historically by…
Conflicts over less/non-tangible material interests:
Nationalism
• Devotion to the interests of one’s 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
Conflicts over less/non-tangible material interests:
Ethnic Conflict
•
•
•
•
Stems from…
Quite possibly the most important source of conflict in the numerous wars
now occurring throughout the world.
Nationalism tied to territory, often 
Ethnic groups:
•
•
Often form the basis for _____________________________
Genocide
–
–
–
Def:
Conflicts over less/non-tangible material interests:
Ethnic Conflict
• Causes of ethnic hostility
– Kinship:
– History:
– Ethnocentrism
•
• Education can 
– Very difficult to solve because it’s very hard to divide anything
– Global identity in the future?
Conflicts over less/non-tangible material interests:
Religious Conflict
• Because religion is the core of a community’s value
system in much of the world, people whose religious
practices differ are…
– Fundamentalist movements
– Secular political organizations
Figure 5.3
Table 5.1
Conflicts over less/non-tangible material interests:
Ideological Conflict
• Ideology _________________ and
_______________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; Russia’s Leninist
communism in 1917, U.S. democracy in 1776
– Angola
Conflicts over tangible material interests:
Territorial Disputes
•
Means of controlling territory – primarily military
• Can be (1) ____________________________________ or
• (2) __________________________________________
•
Change in economies  change in territorial conflict:
• Old days:
• Modern days:
•
Interstate borders
• Old days:
• Post-WWII norm:
•
•
•
Little territory has changed hands through force
Most changing of borders has happened peacefully (through ICJ
or World Court mostly)
Secession (def):
• E.g., US civil war; Chechnya, Bosnia-Serbia
• Intl norm is against approving of secessionist movements
Conflicts over tangible material interests:
Lingering Disputes
•
Israel
•
•
•
•
•
Kashmir: India vs. Pakistan
•
•
•
•
•
•
Israel’s war of independence  cease-fire (1948)
Six day war  further expansion (1967)
Camp David peace treaty  retraction of borders (1978)
Dispute still exists over Gaza Strip (near Egypt), Golan Heights (near Syria), and
West Bank (near Jordan)
India’s part: inhabited by Muslims (minority in India, majority in Pakistan)
Pakistan’s view: India oppressed Kashmiris, thwarts potential popular
referendum
India’s view: Pakistan aids Islamic radicals, who attack Indian-occupied Kashmir
Nagorno-Karabakh: Armenian-populated territory in Azerbaijan
Crimean peninsula: Russia vs. Ukraine
Many disputes today involve conflicts over tiny (often uninhabitable islands)
Figure 5.5
Conflicts over tangible material interests:
Others
•
Territorial waters
• UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1973-82)
•
•
•
Airspace
•
•
Conflicts over tangible material interests:
Control of Governments
• Most struggles to control territory do not involve
_________________________.
• They are conflicts over which governments will
________________________.
• International conflicts over the control of
governments – along with territorial disputes –
are likely to lead to...
Conflicts over tangible material interests:
Economic Conflict
• Most pervasive form of conflict in IR; in a global capitalist market, all
economic exchanges involve some conflict of interests
• Conflict 
• Mercantilism:
• Lateral pressure theory:
• Drug trafficking: