المستخلص: |
Many theoretical theses agree on the changing nature of war and the emergence of new forms of organized violence during the last two decades of the twentieth century, especially in Africa. The most prominent feature of this change is the decline in interstate wars from a quantitative perspective compared to the increase of internal wars that take place within states. The nature and characteristics of contemporary warfare have been the focus of academic debates in the field of war and peace studies in recent years, particularly those relating qualitative distinctions between old and new wars. Despite differences in details, supporters of the new-war thesis agree in general that it is qualitatively and quantitatively different from previous forms of interstate wars, and thus requires a new conceptualization that surpasses traditional conceptions of war that are profoundly transformed in the global era. A survey of the most important literature of new wars shows that Mary Kaldor's work, New and Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era, presents a more inclusive paradigm of new wars, which varies, according to her, from the preceding old wars on many different levels. Therefore, this study aims to demonstrate how conventional approaches of war have proved increasingly inadequate to capture the changing nature of African wars in the global age. The study highlights the impact of the collapse of the Cold War system on the spread of anarchy and production of new types of organized violence; determines the characteristics of African wars in the global era; and finally identifies transnational processes through which domestic wars in Africa are internationalized
|