Internal Wars

Definition of Internal War-an armed conflict involving combatant groups that reside within a single country- a “civil war”; 80-90% of all wars are internal

Examples-Afghanistan

,

India

,

Lebanon

,

Rwanda

,

Sierra Leone

,

Haiti

Consequences of Internal Wars-Fatalities (direct combat, famine, disease, chaos causes massive civilian deaths), Human Rights Atrocities: genocide, torture, rape, slavery-all committed on a massive scale

Causes of Internal Wars:

Weak States

Political Ideology

Identity

Religious

Ethnic

Security Dilemma

Relative Deprivation

Abusive Corrupt Regime

Psychopathic Leaders

Cases:

Sudan

(Darfur),

Iraq

,

Rwanda

, Israel-Palestine

Solutions to Internal Wars:

-International Intervention-diplomacy, peacekeeping, military intervention (peace enforcing), and economic sanctions and incentives

-Diplomacy-the act of bringing parties together to negotiate a mutually agreeable settlement that prevents or ends a conflict; mediator-an actor with influence over conflicting partiers, and who attempts to encourage parties to make concessions to resolve disputes peacefully.

-Military Intervention-military force or support applied by an external actor to force and end to conflict (choose sides) Ex.

Bosnia

: NATO “Lift and Strike” Plan

-Economic sanctions-help to end conflicts in

Cambodia

and

Angola

; bans on “conflict diamonds” and other materials damaged rebel groups and forced them to negotiate

-Economic incentives-economic aid from US: Camp David Accords, Economic incentives also helped to persuade Serbs to sign Dayton Peace Accord

-Domestic Solutions-diplomacy, elections, power sharing

-Diplomacy-domestic mediators can also be employed, nonpartisan individuals are most effective. Ex.

Afghanistan

: Hamid Karzai

-Elections-provide a nonviolent means of dispute resolution, elections monitors help to ensure legitimacy. Successes:

Nicaragua

,

El Salvador

,

Mozambique

,

Cambodia

-Power Sharing-Consociation Government: power sharing between groups, each sectarian group guaranteed to hold major posts in gov’t, approach can be useful in multiethnic, polarized societies, Successes: Switzerland, Belgium; less successful: Lebanon and Iraq

*Information courtesy of notes and PowerPoint lectures from Comparative Politics class; taught by Dr. Collins,

Kennesaw

State

University