Date of Award
Fall 12-2017
Degree Type
Masters Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Political Science, International Development, and International Affairs
Committee Chair
Joseph Weinberg
Committee Chair Department
Political Science, International Development, and International Affairs
Committee Member 2
Sarah Cate
Committee Member 2 Department
Political Science, International Development, and International Affairs
Committee Member 3
Troy Gibson
Committee Member 3 Department
Political Science, International Development, and International Affairs
Abstract
Civil War is a term often used to classify a type of conflict which arises within states. This being so, the exact criteria upon which such a classification of conflict is arrived remains unclear. Additionally, political, dispensational and ideological currents have influenced the classification of conflicts within states by different scholars, so that the determination of conflicts as being civil wars rather than some other kind of intra-state conflict can seem arbitrary. Beyond just the academic implications of this arbitrariness are policy impacts as well. This is because the term civil war carries with it certain implications about the nature of the conflict, and as such, mandates sets of domestic, regional and international approaches for resolving it.
The idea of a civil war as a conflict which emphasizes civil processes as accompanying dimensions of military objectives is proposed to distinguish civil wars from other intra-state conflicts. The argument proposes that military forces aim to engender wider civil processes aimed at undermining the authority of a state, so as to realize specific political goals in domains controlled by that state. Domains controlled by the state, challenged during civil wars, include demographic (population based uprisings), politico-economic (balkanization of economic sectors and the establishment of political structures), geographic (captured state territory as well as natural resources), and international (establishing anti-state diplomatic linkages with outside actors). The Syrian conflict – in a limited case study – is used as an illustration of how this classification of can be undertaken
Copyright
2017, Mphatso Kaufulu
Recommended Citation
Kaufulu, Mphatso, "Rethinking Civil Wars: An Overview of Literature and the Syrian Conflict Towards a Structural Definition of Civil War" (2017). Master's Theses. 324.
https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/324