Conflict and Crisis: Concepts and Overview Findings on Earthquakes I
International Political Earthquakes Michael Brecher http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=293883 The University of Michigan Press, 2008. CHAPTER 1 Conflict and Crisis Concepts and Overview Findings on Earthquakes I Concepts range of hostile behavior, from physical or verbal threat, through diplomatic, political, and/or economic boycott, Conflict designates one of the two domains of politics to psychological warfare and violence, whether minor in- and society, along with cooperation: the focus in this cidents, serious clashes, or full-scale war. volume is on the former concept. There are several spatial domains of international Conflict is as old as the human experience—in the re- conflict. One is protracted conflict (PC) (e.g., the India- lations between individuals and within, between, and Pakistan PC since 1947). Another is crisis. Some inter- among families, clans, tribes, city-states, nation-states, national crises erupt within, others outside, a protracted and multi-national empires from the beginning of re - conflict (e.g., the Kashmir crises in 1947–48, 1965–66, corded history to the present. Among the many defini- 1990, and 2001–2, which erupted in the context of a pro- tions of political conflict, the most precise and concise tracted conflict between the two most powerful South was framed by Gurr (1980: 1–2): “Conflict phenomena Asian states, and the India intervention in Sri Lanka cri- are the overt, coercive interactions of contending collec- sis in 1987, which was independent from any ongoing tivities.” They are characterized by two or more parties protracted conflict). A third type of turmoil is war, engaged in mutually hostile actions and using coercion which can occur between adversaries either within a pro- to injure or control their opponents.
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