1. International Conflict
CHAPTER FIVE
International Relations 9/e
Goldstein and Pevehouse
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2. 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 world’s postwar zones are holding up.
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3. Figure 5.1
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4. 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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5. 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 victor’s 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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6. 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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7. 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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8. 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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9. Causes of War
The question of why war breaks out can be approached in different ways.
Descriptive approaches
Theoretical approaches
Broad generalizations about the causes of war have been elusive.
Wars do not have a single or simple cause.
Levels of analysis can help us organize theories of war.
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10. Causes of War: The Individual Level
On the individual level of analysis, theories about war center on rationality.
One theory, consistent with realism, holds that the use of war and other violent means of leverage in international conflicts is normal and reflects rational decisions of national leaders: that “wars begin with conscious and reasoned decisions based on the calculation, made by both parties, that they can achieve more by going to war than by remaining at peace.”
An opposite theory that conflicts often escalate to war because of deviations from rationality in the individual decision-making processes of national leaders.
Neither theory holds up well.
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11. Causes of War: The Domestic Level
The domestic level of analysis draws attention to the characteristics of states or societies that may make them more or less prone to use violence in resolving conflicts.
Few useful generalizations can tell us which societies are more prone or less prone to war.
Same society may change greatly over time.
Ex.: Japan
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12. Causes of War: The Interstate Level
Theories at the interstate level explain wars in terms of power relations among actors in the international system.
Power transition theory holds that conflicts generate large wars at times when power is relatively equally distributed and a rising power is threatening to overtake a declining hegemon in overall position.
Deterrence – stop wars by building up power and threatening its use
Theory of arms race – wars are caused, not prevented by such actions
No general formula has been discovered to tell us in what circumstances each of these principles holds true.
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13. Causes of War: The Global Level
At the global level of analysis, a number of theories of war have been proposed.
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 explain only general tendencies toward war in the international system.
Theory of linear long-term change:
war as an outcome of conflict is becoming less likely over time due to the worldwide development of both technology and international norms.
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14. Conflicts of Ideas Six types of international conflict:
Ethnic
Religious
Ideological
Territorial
Governmental
Economic
Most difficult types of conflict have intangible elements such as ethnic hatred, religious fervor, 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
Ideas
interests
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15. 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
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16. 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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18. Ethnic Conflict: Causes of Ethnic Hostility
Longstanding historical conflicts over specific territories or natural resources, or exploitation or political domination of another
Ethnocentrism
Dehumanization
Role of education to overcome ethnic animosities
Ex.: France and Germany – rewriting of textbooks
Out-group/in-group dynamics
What level is your group identity?
Global identity in the future?
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19. GENOCIDE Rwanda Sudan Role of Cold War Hutu and Tutsi groups
Pathological genocide: a deviation from both rationality and social norms
Dehumanization
Sudan
Northern Muslims and Southern Christians
Role of Cold War
Kept ethnic conflicts in check
Systematic extermination of ethnic or religions groups in whole or in part
Government may use this to destroy scapegoated groups or political rivals.

20. Religious Conflict
Because 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.
Fundamentalist movements
Secular political organizations
Islamist movements
Islamist groups
Turkey
Nationalist movements expressed through religious channels
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21. Table 5.1
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23. Religious Conflict Armed Islamist Groups Saudi Arabia
Vary tremendously
Sunni and Shi’ite
Iran
Hezbollah
Shi’ites in Iraq
Afghanistan
Pakistan
Al Qaeda
Saudi Arabia
Al Qaeda activity
Palestine
Hamas (Sunni); not closely connected with Al Qaeda or Taliban
Sudan
Algeria
Chechnya
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25. 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; Russia’s 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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26. 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
Lingering disputes – Israeli borders; Kashmir; Spratly Islands; Okinotori; Falkland Islands; Kuril Islands
Territorial waters – part of national territory
UNCLOS
EEZs
Airspace
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28. 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 other’s 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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29. Economic Conflict
Economic competition is the most pervasive form of conflict in international relations because economic transactions are pervasive.
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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30. Economic Conflict
Today military forms of leverage are no longer very effective in economic conflicts
Mercantilism
Lateral pressure
Military industry
Trade in strategic materials
Vulnerability
Interdependence
Revolutions in poor countries
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31. Drug Trafficking
Smuggling that deprives states of revenue and violates states’ legal control of their borders.
Smuggling generally an economic issue rather than a security one.
Drug smuggling is different
Effect on national (and military) morale and efficiency
Heavily armed gun traffickers involve military
Concern states and nonstate actors
Ex.: U.S. government activity against cocaine cartels
Funding of rebel armies through trade in illicit drugs
Afghanistan and Columbia
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