POL208Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Syrian Civil War, Russian Civil War
Document Summary
Although separate, domestic conflicts often involve international dimensions. Definition: conflict between organized political groups within a failed state. civilians are often intentionally targeted and subjected to atrocities (including rape) In ethnic conflicts, there"s a goal of ethnic leaning (removal of rival group from contested territory). Syrian civil war: causalities over 220,000 (atrocities, civilian victims), economy lost a lot of money, poverty levels rise and collapse of health care and infrastructure (state failure) and refugee crisis. Economic: to contest, acquire or secure resources (nigerian oil, guatemalan land) Political power: leaders can embrace extreme positions and/or incite violence to maintain power (elites using gov"t for personal gain) State"s inability to address grievances peacefully (correlation between internal conflict and economy) also state failure (see below) Poorer countries are less efficient in providing goods, tend to be corrupt politically resulting in a lot of injustice, and they have high unemployment rates, which can fuel movements challenging the state.
