2. Conflicts and wars
• In International Relations, conflict
generally refers to armed conflict – war –
when actors use force to resolve a dispute
• Specialists in IR and political science have
proposed various theories seek to explain
causes of war, in order to explain how
some disputes become violent and others
do not
3. Types of conflict (by actors)
• The Uppsala Conflict Project distinguishes
four basic types of conflict:
– Interstate – between two or more governments
– Intrastate (or internal) – between a government
and a non-governmental party
– Intrastate with foreign involvement – where one of
both sides receive support from other
governments
– Extra-systemic – between a state and a non-state
group outside its territory
4. Examples of conflict (by actors)
• Interstate: most better-known wars,
including the two World Wars
• Intrastate: civil wars, wars of
independence
• Intrastate with foreign intervention: the
Spanish and Angolan civil wars
• Extra-systemic: colonial wars of
independence
5. Types of conflict (by cause)
• Goldstein and Pevehouse distinguish six
causes of conflict, falling into two
fundamental categories. These causes
can often overlap.
Conflicts of ideas Conflicts of interest
Ethnic Territorial
Religious Governmental
Ideological Economic
