Peace and Conflict
Defining Conflict
As the nature of conflict shifts, it is important to distinguish between types of conflict – that which is a natural occurrence between individuals and communities, and deadly conflict that results in the loss of lives. The former can be positive, providing a level of creative tension that fosters collaborative actions and innovative solutions, while the latter is destructive to lives, property, the natural environment, and social order. Peace and conflict sit on a continuum, ranging from a state of security, order, and mutual concord on the one hand, to all-out nuclear war across international boundaries on the other.
Conflicts are generally classified as “low,” “medium,” or “high-intensity,” depending on the types of weapons used, involvement of outsiders, and number of casualties. Wars occur between states and their armies. Terrorism, or asymmetric warfare – so called because it allows a weaker opponent to level the playing field by unorthodox means – is considered a separate category, even though terrorist actions can and have inflicted casualty numbers high enough to qualify them as low-intensity wars. Terrorist acts are, by definition, non-state actions, even though they may be supported by states for their own purposes. States may, and often do, commit acts of terror in their pursuit of policy, but such acts are not, ironically, defined as terrorism. States may also sponsor and equip proxy groups that commit terrorist acts.
Most conflicts have a life cycle of distinct phases, which very often are defined by the level of violence involved. The first is a period of rising tensions, devoid of violence, perhaps marked by strikes, protests, or civil disturbances. This is followed by confrontation, the outbreak of overt violence, and growth of military hostilities. The post-conflict phase begins with a truce or cease-fire agreement, and concludes with reconciliation in a variety of forms. Each of these phases has its particular impact on the societies involved as well as unique challenges to the peacemaker.
Conflict Connections
Conflict affects every facet of society. While there is a popular belief that war leads to prosperity, the economy is actually the first to suffer. The Viet Nam War cost the United States the ability to make social programs in the “Great Society” envisioned by President Lynden Johnson, while the economic drain of the Afghan War and the Cold War led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Even relatively small-scale events can have a substantial impact, such as the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, which tipped an already shaky global economy into recession.
Warfare is also destructive to the social fabric and culture of combatant nations. People may be forced into military service, driven from their homes and businesses by fighting, or unable to cultivate land because of land mines and other unexploded ordnance. As is the case in many countries in Africa, where low-intensity wars have simmered for decades, the basic foundations of a civil society have never been built. Governments seem to exist primarily for the waging of war – and the enrichment of warlords.
The provision of basic health care and food and water security is affected by the war effort. In poorer countries, local revenue and foreign assistance that should be earmarked for education, health care, and economic development are diverted to military uses. Basic infrastructure is destroyed or pressed into the service of the combatants. Local or imported sources of energy serve the war effort, and are denied to ordinary citizens.
Deadly conflict is automatically destructive to the environment by reducing the productivity of the land and forcing nature into the service of war. “Scorched earth” tactics, “defoliation,” and other direct attacks on natural resources and ecosystems are increasingly common in modern war. Animal species, while not directly targeted, are often “collateral damage,” or killed by combatants for food, or valuable hides, ivory, or other trophies, which can be sold to support the fighting.
Civil conflicts invariably lead to a limitation of the human rights of the citizens involved. With claims of a need for heightened national security, governments may deny basic freedoms of speech and assembly as well as other economic, civil, and political freedoms guaranteed in the United Nations Covenants. Even in liberal democracies in Western Europe and North America, civil liberties and personal freedoms have been curtailed to combat terrorist groups such as Italy’s Red Brigades, Germany’s Bader-Meinhoff, the Irish Republican Army, or the Afghanistan-based Al Qaeda network.
Though there have been no high-intensity (world) wars for decades, low-intensity conflicts have had a devastating effect on developing countries and on the planet as a whole. In addition to military and civilian casualties, regional economies have been disrupted, and local ecosystems destroyed. Tens of millions of refugees have been driven from their homes, often suffering from hunger and disease. Non-combatant nations have been drawn in to provide humanitarian services or peacekeeping forces. Defense budgets in industrialized nations have grown – at the expense of social services and environmental protection – to counter terrorism or try to stabilize warring regions that supply valuable resources.