Civil war is a violent conflict between a state and one or more organized non-state actors in the state’s territory. Civil wars are thus distinguished from interstate conflicts, violent conflicts or riots not involving states and state repression against individuals who cannot be considered an organized or cohesive group, including genocides, and similar violence by non-state actors, such as terrorism or violent crime.
The definition of civil war clearly encompasses many different forms of conflict. There is one way to distinguish between civil wars in which insurgents seek territorial secession or autonomy and conflicts in which insurgents aim for control of the central government. Conflicts over government control may involve insurgents originating from within the centre or state apparatus, as in military coups, or challengers from outside the political establishment. Other analysts distinguish between ethnic civil wars, in which the insurgents and individuals in control of the central government have separate ethnic identities, and revolutionary conflicts, in which insurgents aim for major social transformation. Notwithstanding those distinctions, a given civil war will often combine several elements. For example, insurgencies may be both ethnic and ideologically based, and the insurgents’ aims can shift over time from secession for a limited territory to controlling the entire state.
Armed challenges to state authority are as old as states themselves. Civil wars have been common. Whereas interstate conflicts tend to be short, civil wars often persist for a long time, are less likely to be settled by formal agreements, and are much more likely to recur. Many experts regarded the outbreak of new civil conflicts immediately following the Cold War as evidence that the world would be more turbulent and violent after a long period of stability based on the of nuclear deterrence adopted by the US and USSR. Yet the number of new civil wars actually declined in relative terms after the initial peak after the Cold War. The specific causes that may underlie that decline remain disputed, and the number of ongoing civil wars remains high in absolute terms.
Civil wars are generally less severe than interstate wars, as measured in direct battle deaths. However, civil wars have been more frequent and lengthier, and the great majority of the recorded deaths in battle since the Cold War stem from civil wars. Furthermore, war can have a substantial indirect impact on human welfare beyond the direct loss of life. Studies have indicated that countries experiencing civil war suffer a pronounced decline in GDP and also disrupt trade and investment and leave large social legacies in unemployed former combatants and displaced individuals. The negative consequences of civil war are not limited to the countries that experience them: neighbouring countries also suffer negative economic impacts and may be more prone to violence themselves.
Most civil wars take place within relatively poorer societies. Early emphasis was placed on violence within societies tended to focus on economic deprivation and grievances as key motives. Inequality and how groups may resort to rebellion if they are dissatisfied with their current economic status relative to their aspirations. Nationalist conflicts emphasized how both relatively poorer and wealthier groups are likely to rebel against the centre if they believe that they can do better under independence. Civil wars in Latin American countries were often interpreted within a framework focusing on economic grievances arising from either unequal land distribution or high-income inequality.
It is often observed that civil war is primarily a problem of weak states and that weakness is largely determined by economic development. Opportunities for insurgencies are greater when participants can prosper from war—for example, through looting or by gaining control of valuable natural resources. Civil wars in Africa are often taken to support those perspectives.
Political deprivation, such as colonial subordination or lack of political rights provides another plausible motivation for resorting to violence. Ethnically diverse countries are generally not more prone to conflict if they have institutions or grant autonomy rights to ethnic groups and if control of the state or access to power does not always follow directly from the relative size of ethnic groups. Struggles for broader political rights in autocratic regimes provide another context in which violence may occur. Autocratic regimes typically deny citizens room for political activities and often resort to severe repression of protests, which in turn may motivate resort to arms. Protests against autocratic or exclusionary regimes often turn violent and sometimes lead to sustained conflicts, as in South Africa under the apartheid system. Claims for greater political rights and freedom are clearly important elements of many insurgent movements, even those that do not immediately implement democratic institutions once they have achieved power.
Although autocratic institutions provide fewer avenues for nonviolent political activities and protest, autocratic regimes are often repressive enough to deter any significant dissent. Accordingly, regimes that combine autocratic and democratic features are arguably the most prone to violent conflict, because they combine a lack of political freedom with sufficient opportunities for protest, which would be absent under a more repressive regime.
It is emphasised that structural factors rarely change or that change only slowly over time. Such factors may include demonstrations of state weakness, conflict between elites or events that make it easier for groups to mobilize—for example, by bringing groups together or indicating focal points for organizing protests. Many existing arguments and findings in civil war research can be interpreted within this framework. Regime change and other signals of weakened state authority can increase the perceived chances of success or extract concessions from a government. Economic crises and natural disasters can also increase the risk of conflict. This is consistent with the idea that crises and emergencies can help provide a setting for rallying protest against the government.
Factors outside individual countries can play an important role in the outbreak and evolution of civil conflicts. In many civil wars, the participants are not always confined to the countries in which most of the fighting takes place. Ethnic groups often span international boundaries, and transnational kin frequently participate in or provide support for insurgencies in other states. The status of international borders generates different constraints and opportunities for governments and rebels. Borders are, in a technical sense, just lines in the sand and are often not difficult to cross from a purely military perspective. However, the fact that borders formally delineate state sovereignty makes it more difficult for governments to combat insurgencies by rebels based in other states. In addition, the presence of conflict in a neighbouring state can help to facilitate violent mobilisation, either through emulation of successful rebellion or through the direct imports of arms and combatants. Finally, civil wars are often closely linked to interstate war. Poor relations between states may motivate governments to support insurgencies in rival countries, and civil wars may in turn promote military conflict between states.
