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War, Conflict, Development

Key Concepts:

Terms in this set (18)

War
Organized, armed, and often 'prolonged conflict' carried on between states: Intentional and widespread armed conflict between political communities.
Civil War
Where the forces in conflict belong to the same nation, vying for control of or independence from that nation.
Terrorism
The use or threat of action designed to influence governmental organisations or to intimidate the public, for the purposes of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.
Old Wars
E.g. WII - based around an alliance of Nation States involving the whole might of the nation: heavy scale military machinery (tanks/ fighter jets) and mass deployment of troops.
New Wars
Much smaller scale than 'old wars' and involve small arms (guns), often fueled by ethnic differences and funded by 'shadow economies'.
The global shadow economy
The illegal trade in the trafficking or arms, drugs and diamonds.
Paul Collier - Five main causes of civil war
Primary product exporters, Diasporas, High male unemployment, Ethnic conflict, Dispersed populations (mountains/ desserts).
Paul Collier - Bottom Billion Theory
Ethnic conflict, corruption, the resource curse - all linked with underdevelopment and conflict - e.g. Liberia/ Democratic Republic of Congo.
Noam Chomsky
The United States is the 'world's biggest terrorist', based on its mostly illegal interventions in 50 countries since WWII - e.g. practically every Latin and South American country.
Naomi Klein
The Shock Doctrine - the United States uses war and its aftermath to advance neoliberal policies when people are in shock - e.g. Chile (1973) and Iraq (2003).
David Harvey
The war on Iraq was all about securing oil for the benefit of American consumers.
Modernisation Theory
There is less conflict in wealthy countries - people have more to lose, thus tend to sort out differences peacefully.
Dependency Theory
Developed nations mainly drive war and conflict in conjunction with arms companies such as BAE systems.
Feminism
Most wars are fueled by male aggression: governments, arms companies, and armies are predominantly male institutions.
Direct Effects of Conflict
Include immediate effects such as higher death rates and the destruction of infrastructure.
Indirect effects of conflict
Include the longer term effects such as displacement of people (refugees), and the destruction of the social fabric, and poverty.
Ending conflict - the primary development goal
Because conflict costs the global economy $13 trillion a year. It can send every other aspect of development (health/ education etc.) into reverse.
The Global Peace Index
Measures the level of peacefulness in over 100 countries using over 20 indicators including number of battle deaths, number of terrorist incidents, arms expenditure and so on.
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