Global Issues: War/conflict

War Today
As of September 2014, there were four conflicts, that

had killed up to ten thousand people.

Nine conflicts that had killed more than one
thousand people.
13 that killed more than one hundred since January
2013.
Although not very peaceful, today, we are probably
living in the most peaceful period of human history.
Of all the above conflicts, none are an active war
between two nations.

War and Civil war

Although civil wars are very destructive, their impact

is usually smaller than a war between two nations.

When two nations engage in war, they can mobilise
larger forces and have access to almost all of the
states resources.
The reason we have transitioned from war to civil
war are due to the cold war and the end of
colonialism.

The Cold War

When the cold war ended, a major driver of armed

conflicted also ended. The collapse of the Soviet

Union brought back many old conflicts and led to the
rise of new ones, often leading to civil wars in
countries had become independent of the USSR.

Colonialism
In 1945, this was the amount of land under colonial

rule:

Colonialism continued
Today, only several islands

are under foreign rule.

Most of the conflicts going
on today, are in countries
that, sixty years ago, were
under foreign rule.
For after world war two,
Africa gained independence
from its foreign rulers, but
these rulers drew up the
borders very carelessly,
dividing many people and
sparking civil war.

King Leopold
of Belgium
colonised the
Congo in the
19th century.
The
exploitation of
resources
killed half the
population, ten
million people.
Almost double
the population
of Belgium at
the time. An
example of
why they
fought for
independence.

Today
Things are getting much better now. Until 1989,

victory in a civil war by force, was common, now very

rare.
Ending a civil war through diplomacy and
negotiations rose from ten percent, to almost forty
percent.

Today, there are four main reasons, why nations have

stopped fighting each other.
1. Democratisation. A minority of wars in the 2oth
century were fought by democracies.
2. Globalisation. Using war as a means
3. War is no longer popular or beneficial.
4. War crimes with serious sanctions. For example the
Geneva conventions set a set of laws of rules against
types of warfare and weapons.
5. Borders are now mostly fixed. Most countries accept
borders and agree with other nations over territory.

Globalisation
Today, it is much cheaper to buy and sell resources

on the global market, than it is to take resources.