Lecture 6: Civil War

Question 1

How can calling something a civil war be a political statement?

Answer 1

It indicates fault and sides, causes and goals

Question 2

Armitage: “civil wars” are contested and controversial - 3 points

Answer 2

1. Political, meaning reinterpreted and used in multiple contexts for multiple purposes
2. Seems descriptive but is normative and can give a conflict legitimacy
3. Has implication of being backwards looking and destructive, not a fertile revolution

Question 3

Analytical definition: Civil War

Answer 3

Armed combat within the boundaries of a sovereign entity between parties subject to a common authority at the outset of the hostilities - Kalyvas

Question 4

4 characteristics of a civil war according to Sambanis

Answer 4

1. The parties to the conflict are politically and military organized, and have publicly stated their political goals
2. The main organizations recruit locally (distinction between international and internal conflicts)
3. Conflict is large-scale, challenging the sovereignty of the government
4. Violence is sustained

Question 5

In The Banality of Ethnic War, what points do Mueller make about ethnic wars?

Answer 5

1. There is a widespread notion that ethnic wars are caused by deep-seated hatred and feature violence of all against all
2. But warfare in ethnic wars is similar to warfare in non-ethnic wars as 1) politicians use a small number if armed thugs to carry out violence, and 2) ordinary citizens are not involved
3. Violence during war generates identity group-based polarization that the notion of ethnic war claims caused the way
4. Ethinic war can happen anywhere

Question 6

The two basis’ of war types

Answer 6

1. Macro-level cleavage: the principal nation-level dispute separating the warring parties (e.g. what is the war being fought over)
2. Belligerent war aims: Embodied in macro-level cleavage but potentially distinct from it and can evolve; e.g. genocide, ethnic cleansing

Question 7

5 archetypes of civil war

Answer 7

1. Ideological
2. Secessionist
3. Ethnic
4. Potentially religious
5. Irredentist: special case of secessionist: you want one party to split off and merge into another country

Question 8

Definition: Ethnic war

Answer 8

Civil war between ethnic groups or fought over ethnic issues, based on two dimensions:
1. Recruitment is based on ethniciy
2. The issues of the armed groups

Question 9

According to Kaldor, what are the differences between old (2 points) and new civil wars (4 points)?

Answer 9

Old civil wars:
- Clear line between state and rebel group
- Violence focused on confrontation between the two groups

New civil wars:
- Multiple groups competing for power
- Gain through violent acts such as terrorism, ethnic cleansing, organized crime, looting, extortion etc.
- Groups gain more from violence than winning
- Extremist policies based on hatred of the other

Question 10

According to Kalyvas, what aspects are problematic about the distinction between new and old civil wars?

Answer 10

1. It’s claimed that “new” wars are criminal while “old” wars were political
2. Evidence to support it is “typically incomplete and biased”
3. Often ignores historical research
4. Profound differences do not exist
5. Mostly a nostalgic view of civil wars of the past

Question 11

Podcast: what constitutes a civil war - NPR

Answer 11

Definition of civil war: a conflict within a country where two or more factions are fighting for control of the government or territory - but controversial

Foreign intervention can complicate and prolong civil wars

Question 12

Reading: The banality of “ethnic war” - John Mueller

Answer 12

In discussions of ethnic war, people fail to take into account that not everyone of a certain ethnicity is fighting everyone of another; implication is often that two groups have descended into Hobbesian war of all against all and neighbor against neighbor, but this is simply not true

If ethnic war means a war of all against all, where everyone in one ethnic group becomes dedicated and murderous enemy of everyone in another group, ethnic war does not exist!

Ethnic warfare more closely resembles nonethnic warfare because it is waged by small groups of combatants fighting in the name of some larger entity. Fighting can be about many things such as resources, territory and power like normal wars

Ethnic war is a condition where mild, ordinary people can unwillingly come under vicious and arbitrary control of small groups of armed thugs

Term of ethnic war is often used to justify Western intervention in other countries and can be counterproductive because it focuses on ethnic divisions instead of the root of the problem

Question 13

Reading: New and old civil wars: a valid distinction? - Stathis Kalyvas

Answer 13

The decline of interstate war and rise in frequency of civil war since end of cold war has led to focus on ethnic competition as a source of conflict and regard these civil wars as “new” and fundamentally different from “old” civil wars in their criminality rather than political aspects

But this tendency to see fundamental differences is wrong because 1) information about recent or ongoing wars is incomplete and biased, and 2) historical research on earlier wars are disregarded