Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-p566r Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T23:40:19.098Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - The Duration and Outcome of Civil Wars

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2014

Lars-Erik Cederman
Affiliation:
Center for Comparative and International Studies, ETH Zürich
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch
Affiliation:
University of Essex
Halvard Buhaug
Affiliation:
Peace Research Institute Oslo
Get access

Summary

The empirical chapters in Part II of this book have applied our grievance and inequality perspective to propositions on the initial outbreak of civil wars. In this chapter, we consider the implications of exclusion and grievances for the duration and outcome of civil wars.

The duration of conflict is interesting in its own right, as the length and persistence vary dramatically across civil wars. Some civil wars can last as little as a single day. Many military coups that generate sufficient casualties to be considered civil wars in the UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Data Set or comparable data sets either fail or succeed within a very short time period (Gleditsch et al. 2002; Cunningham et al. 2009). For example, the coup by General Rodríguez against the Paraguayan dictator General Stroessner was limited to a five-hour military battle on 3 February 1989 (incidentally, Stroessner's daughter was married to Rodríguez's son, confirming the within-center character of the conflict).

Other civil wars, however, go on for decades. This, in particular, seems to be the case for many conflicts pitting the state or the political center against marginalized and excluded ethnic groups. For example, the armed conflict involving the Karen National Union in Myanmar, which first became active in 1966, has defied any kind of resolution or definite outcome. It was still considered ongoing at the end of 2011 in the UCDP database.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×