Armed Conflicts: Modes of violence
Fonju Ndemesah
Looking at the history of the world, every keen observer will come to the conclusion that war has been a recurrent human activity, only the frequency and number of casualties fluctuates. The recurrence of destructive wars caused John F. Kennedy, former president of the USA, to declare in 1963 that “mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind”[1]
Depending on the criteria we use to describe war, we can count as many armed conflict in history as provided by our criteria. Charles W. Kegley, Jr and Eugene R. Wittkopf drawing from respected sources attempt to measure the amount of arm conflicts that have occurred. For example, “Norman Cousins has speculated that since 3600B.C there have been over 14,500 major and minor wars which have taken the lives of over 3.5 billion people (Beer, 1974:7). Another study recorded 14,531 wars over 5,560 years of history, which translates into an average of over 2.5 wars a year (Grieves, 1977:7). Wright (1942) documented 278 wars from 1480 to 1940; Richardson (1960) identified over 300 wars from 1820 to 1949; and Sorokin (1937), perusing human history for approximately 1100 through 1925, records 862 wars”[2]
From the above numbers, it is clear that violence is increasingly becoming a major attribute of world politics; but how is this willingness to suppress dialogue and embrace arm conflict most often manifested?
Classifying modes of violence
Understanding the modes of violence will greatly help to foster our understanding of global conflicts, which despite their global resonance are increasingly localized. Charles W. Kegley, Jr and Eugene R (1985) identify four modes of violence that can be used to distinguished past and present world arm conflicts:
Keeping present the above division will greatly help to understand the various open confrontations encountered in our readings. However, it should be clear to all that the line separating the above division is fuzzy. In addition, instead of viewing the above division as parallel routes; it will be wiser to see them as interwoven in certain situation, zigzag courses in some and parallel in others. For example, terrorism can be viewed as a war between two states or as part of an ongoing civil war.
Sources
[1]Cited in Charles W. Kegley, Jr and Eugene R. Wittkopf (1985), World Politics: Trend and Transformation, New York: St Martin Press
[2] Ibid
Looking at the history of the world, every keen observer will come to the conclusion that war has been a recurrent human activity, only the frequency and number of casualties fluctuates. The recurrence of destructive wars caused John F. Kennedy, former president of the USA, to declare in 1963 that “mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind”[1]
Depending on the criteria we use to describe war, we can count as many armed conflict in history as provided by our criteria. Charles W. Kegley, Jr and Eugene R. Wittkopf drawing from respected sources attempt to measure the amount of arm conflicts that have occurred. For example, “Norman Cousins has speculated that since 3600B.C there have been over 14,500 major and minor wars which have taken the lives of over 3.5 billion people (Beer, 1974:7). Another study recorded 14,531 wars over 5,560 years of history, which translates into an average of over 2.5 wars a year (Grieves, 1977:7). Wright (1942) documented 278 wars from 1480 to 1940; Richardson (1960) identified over 300 wars from 1820 to 1949; and Sorokin (1937), perusing human history for approximately 1100 through 1925, records 862 wars”[2]
From the above numbers, it is clear that violence is increasingly becoming a major attribute of world politics; but how is this willingness to suppress dialogue and embrace arm conflict most often manifested?
Classifying modes of violence
Understanding the modes of violence will greatly help to foster our understanding of global conflicts, which despite their global resonance are increasingly localized. Charles W. Kegley, Jr and Eugene R (1985) identify four modes of violence that can be used to distinguished past and present world arm conflicts:
- War between states
- Military confrontations short of force between countries (Crises)
- Wars within countries (Civil War)
- Terrorism
Keeping present the above division will greatly help to understand the various open confrontations encountered in our readings. However, it should be clear to all that the line separating the above division is fuzzy. In addition, instead of viewing the above division as parallel routes; it will be wiser to see them as interwoven in certain situation, zigzag courses in some and parallel in others. For example, terrorism can be viewed as a war between two states or as part of an ongoing civil war.
Sources
[1]Cited in Charles W. Kegley, Jr and Eugene R. Wittkopf (1985), World Politics: Trend and Transformation, New York: St Martin Press
[2] Ibid