Underlying Conditions of Conflicts
Violent conflicts are devastating for participants. They have immediate impact on everyone involved as well as implications for the future. Attempting to understand the causes for these conflicts are equally complex. Too often we oversimplify this cause and effect. In order to not make this same mistake when researching your conflict use this list of underlying conditions in order to determine what was happening prior to the start of the conflict you’re studying. Use these descriptors to more effectively communicate the causes of the conflict.
- DEMOGRAPHIC PRESSURES: Concerns related to population, such as food scarcity, population growth, and mortality rates;
- REFUGEES AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS: Concerns associated with population displacement and refugees;
- GROUP GRIEVANCE: Tensions and violence among groups within the state;
- HUMAN FLIGHT AND BRAIN DRAIN: Levels of migration out of the country including, but not limited to, the flight of refugees and educated individuals;
- UNEVEN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Disparities in development among different ethnic and religious groups and among regions within the state;
- POVERTY AND ECONOMIC DECLINE: Poverty rates and economic performance;
- STATE LEGITIMACY: Corruption and other measures of democratic capacity, such as government performance and electoral process;
- PUBLIC SERVICES: Provision of education, health care, sanitation, and other services;
- HUMAN RIGHTS AND RULE OF LAW: The protection and promotion of human rights;
- SECURITY APPARATUS: Internal conflict and the proliferation of non-state armed groups;
- FACTIONALIZED ELITES: Conflict and competition among local and national leaders;