Third World War System, Process, and Conflict Dynamics

by Marshall, Monty G.

• ISBN13: 9780847693474
• ISBN10: 0847693473
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-04-22
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

By romanticizing the Cold War as a '¬Slong peace,'¬ we lose perspective on the full range of conflict dynamics that engulfed the lives and livelihoods of people in the Third World. Episodes of violence and human suffering have increased and spread, encompassing ever more states and social groups. Many regions have seen such a serious deterioration of conditions that '¬Snormal'¬ politics are clearly impossible. Third World War examines the patterns of political violence throughout the world during the Cold War and analyzes them collectively as conflict processes within the global system. It shows that warfare was not randomly distributed, but was centered on six protracted conflict regions that together accounted for 80 to 90 percent of all forms of political violence during that time--a magnitude of violence that rivals the destruction of the previous two world wars. Through societal theories of identity, conflict, and development dynamics, supported by a broad range of quantitative evidence, the author explores how armed conflict and the politics of insecurity lead to policy changes, arrested development, and, ultimately, state failure. He concludes with policy implications and a brief assessment of the prospects for peace in the global system.

Author Biography

Monty G. Marshall established and directs the Center for Systemic Peace. He is currently a faculty research associate with the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland

Table of Contents

List of Figures	ix
List of Tables	xi
Preface	xiii
The Global System and the Third World War	1	(18)
System Dynamics	4	(10)
Overview	14	(2)
Notes	16	(3)
Political Violence and War	19	(40)
State of the Art	21	(3)
Critical Elements in the Study of Warfare	24	(14)
Re-Aggregating Typologies of Warfare	38	(12)
Conclusion	50	(4)
Notes	54	(5)
The Societal Dimensions of ``Human Nature'' and the Dynamics of Group Conflict	59	(58)
The State and Social Identity Groups	60	(4)
Human Nature	64	(10)
Sociation	74	(5)
Societal Development	79	(9)
Group Interaction and Integration	88	(7)
The Political Economy of Conflict	95	(7)
The Conflict-Development Nexus	102	(7)
Notes	109	(8)
Violence, Diffusion, and Disintegration in Societal Systems	117	(36)
The Politics of Difference	121	(4)
Patterns of Violence	125	(6)
Diffusion Dynamics	131	(7)
The Diffusion of Insecurity	138	(6)
Insecurity and Development	144	(3)
Notes	147	(6)
Protracted Confict Regions	153	(40)
Research Design and Aggregate Results	156	(29)
Conclusion	185	(3)
Notes	188	(5)
Comparative Regionalism	193	(34)
Democratic Peace or Regional Alliance?	194	(3)
A Political Economy of Regionalism	197	(4)
Comparative Regionalism	201	(21)
Conclusion	222	(1)
Notes	223	(4)
An Agenda for Systemic Peace	227	(10)
General Implications and Prospects	230	(1)
Systemic Policy Recommendations	231	(4)
Conclusion	235	(1)
Notes	235	(2)
Appendix A. Regions and Categories: States in the Global System	237	(6)
Appendix B. Major War Episodes: Process and Change	243	(10)
Appendix C. Major Episodes of Political Violence, 1946-1993	253	(18)
Bibliography	271	(26)
Index	297	(8)
About the Author	305