Conflict, War , and

Terrorism
Topic Outline
• The Global Context: Conflict in a Changing World
• Sociological Theories of War
• Causes of War
• Terrorism
• Social Problems Associated with Conflict, War, and
Terrorism
• Strategies for Action: In Search of Global Peace
• Understanding Conflict, War, and Terrorism
WAR
• War, the most violent form of conflict, refers to
organized armed violence aimed at a social group in
pursuit of an objective. 
• Whether war is just or unjust, defensive or
offensive, it involves the most horrendous atrocities
known to humankind.
The Global Context:
Conflict in a Changing
World
• War and the development of civilization
• War resulted in small groups and villages becoming incorporated
into larger political chiefdoms.
• Centuries of war between chiefdoms culminated in the
development of the state.
The Global Context:
Conflict in a Changing
World
War and Social Change
• State: An apparatus of power, a set of institutions—the central
government, the armed forces, the regulatory and police
agencies—whose most important functions involve the use of
force, the control of territory and the maintenance of internal
order.
• War contributed indirectly to the industrialization and
technological sophistication that characterize the modern world.
• Although industrialization may decrease a society’s propensity to
war, it also increases the potential destruction of war.
• In the postindustrial information age, computer technology has
not only revolutionized the nature of warfare, it has made
societies more vulnerable to external attacks.
The Global Context:
Conflict in a Changing
World
War and Social Change
The Global Context: Conflict in a Changing World
The Economics of Military Spending

• he increasing sophistication of military technology

has commanded a large share of resources, totaling
$1.63 trillion worldwide in 2010, or about 2.6
percent of the total global domestic product. 
• Global military spending has been increasing since
1998, with dramatic increases between 2002 and
2008, as a consequence of expenditures for U.S.-led
operations after September 11.
The Global Context:
Conflict in a Changing
World
The Economics of Military
Spending
What Do You Think?
The Global Context:
Conflict in a Changing
World
The Economics of Military
Spending
• Cold War: The state of military tension and political
rivalry that existed between the United States and
the former Soviet Union from the 1950s through
the late 1980s.
• Today, military spending has nearly returned to the
levels during the Cold War. In 2010, the United
States accounted for 43 percent of the world’s
military spending, the largest single percentage of
any nation.