Conflict

Abstract

In order to deal with violent conflict we need to understand it. Although obvious, this first step has not always been internalised by analysts and practitioners interested in the pacific management of conflict. This chapter has four parts, all contributing to the idea that conflict is often more complex than first impressions suggest and that ameliorative interventions need to be tailored to suit the precise type of conflict. In its first section, the chapter examines the incidence of conflict, discounting simplistic but commonly held views that ‘with the end of the Cold War, the world is experiencing an increase in intrastate bloodletting.’1 In fact, and as illustrated with empirical evidence, a more varied pattern of both conflict escalation and de-escalation has developed during the course of the post-Cold War era. Second, the chapter examines one of the most understudied components of conflict: violence. A failure to appreciate the nature and varieties of violence has limited our understanding of conflict. Not only does violence take direct and indirect forms, but it also provides important evidential clues on the nature of the conflict, its actors and dynamics and how to deal with them.