Essay about Wars, Guns, and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous Places

His approach attempts to consider deeper causes of intrastate violence than traditional case-studies have done (Newman 2014, 63). Newman identifies four general types of civil war: ethnic, political-ideological, weakened or failed state, and resource-based (Newman 2014, 63-65). Most intrastate conflicts can be characterized by a combination of these classifications and their influences. Newman defines four loose requirements for a conflict to be considered using this model. First, a conflict must mainly occur within the borders of an internationally recognized state to be considered “civil” rather than interstate (Newman 2014, 62). Secondly, civil wars are fought between organized groups rather than individuals or unorganized affiliates (Newman 2014, 62). Governmental military forces fit this mold, but are not required for a conflict to be deemed as intrastate. Third, there must be evidence of sustained violence. Newman defines this threshold as 1,000 fatalities (Newman 2014, 62). Last, belligerents must be fighting with a political objective in mind (Newman 2014, 62). This requirement is given a wide range of applicability, as almost any objectives of a group can be defined as political. The Nigerian civil war of the late 1960s fits all of these parameters, and can therefore be analyzed using the typologic system devised by

Since the dawn of mankind, there has always been a struggle for power, from our primitive ancestors to our present day, supposed, enlightened times. There have been a variety of systems that spawned and died in the political world. It can be assumed that the fruition of democracy emerged after the desire to create a system in which it was equal, sustainable, and transparent and where human rights was recognized. Robert Dahl, a prominent political scientist, had believed creating a democratic society in which he considered was perfect had to have (Dahl, 2000): effective participation, equal voting, enlightened understanding, an open agenda setting and inclusion (p.37-38) . In the present day, there are many countries that consider themselves

Ikechi Mgbeoji’s book, Collective Insecurity examines the hidden causes of West Africa’s civil wars and addresses an important question: “Why has the U.N. system not worked to protect people and to enhance their welfare, as intended, in Africa and elsewhere?” In his book, Mgbeoji proposes, “the solution to African political instability lies in a structural rearrangement of the African polity for the purpose of legitimate governance of African peoples.”

Canada is often referred to as a nation of immigrants, however, for a long period of time these immigrants came from a limited side of the world. Most people who migrated to the Dominion before the turn of the twentieth century left European nations, predominately the British Isles and Western Europe. The pattern of immigration began to shift particularly in the 1890s, as it became more likely for southern and eastern Europeans to make the trip. Additionally, another notable change in the pattern of immigration was the increase in Asian workers beginning to arrive in the first couple of decades after Confederation. As a result of the influx of immigrants entering Canada, racism flourished in a variety of ways from individual acts of

“The most widely accepted relationship between economic factors and civil war is that high-income nations are less likely to experience civil wars than low-income nations.” (Dixon 714). The disagreements over how to spend money and tax imported goods, and how territories should be distributed, cause this one nation to fight against each other.

In recent years, political discourse about gun control and the Second Amendment has become increasingly volatile. Gun lobbies such as the National Rifle Association are more organized and aggressive and their issue agenda has evolved as new and more powerful weapons and militia appear. On the other side of the debate, the critical wounding of James Brady gave gun control advocates a visible martyr with strong ties to Republican conservatives. In sum, gun control and the right to bear arms have become hotly disputed issues where political alignments are constantly shifting.

In the book Guns, Gun Control, and Elections: The Politics and Policy of Firearms, Wilson discusses the complex issue of gun control and the many debates and controversies regarding the issue. Many people throughout the United States feel it is the right as a citizen in the United States to own a weapon, and the government should have no say in the matter. These people believe this because of the part of the Second Amendment that states, “The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.” People who are strong advocates against gun control use this part of the Second Amendment to drive their point across. Advocates against gun control believe that preserving the freedom of a state through a militia is not the only way

In a Western perspective, Africa is perceived as a poor, insecure, and violent continent. Although this statement is ignorant and disregards the multidimensional issues that are in each of the 54 countries, security and violence is a general issue in most African countries. African countries have not endured an easy history, and their history continues to create present conflicts. Their violent colonial past has left certain countries with ethnic rivalries and left their legacies with agents of security. Although the colonial past of African countries have been the leading cause of many of their current problems, they cannot be blamed for everything. Additionally, there is a positive correlated relationship between the state and the violence

John Mueller makes a claim even bolder than a decline in war, arguing that war has ceased, or nearly ceased, to exist. He argues that the general decline in inter-state war lies in the changing attitudes towards war. Mueller contends that up until the early 20th century, war was seen in a positive light, but European attitudes changed “profoundly” after WWI, and that shift of opinion was “dramatically reinforced” by WWII. Mueller explains the particular fall in civil wars in the 1990s as a result of improvements in governance and policing in developing countries. Thus these factors in combination explain the recent decline in all wars. Mueller rejects other alternative arguments for the decline of war, including economic interdependence and institutional incentives, on the basis of causality and questionable impact. Critics of his theories point out that the traditional “war” conception they are based on excludes any non-state warfare with under 1000 deaths, and thus explanations of the recent decline do not account for major instances of political violence such as the Rwandan Genocide. However, Mueller refutes these critiques with the view that such political violence is merely opportunistic thugs who are the ‘residual combatants’. Thus, Mueller’s claim that war has “ceased to exist” is qualified, particularly in light of political changes after the cold war.

Greed and grievances are found to be two of the most crucial causes of most violent conflicts as well as the driving forces of mass rebellion. In the case of Sierra Leone, a war that went on from 1991 to 2002 killing about 50,000 people and displacing almost two thirds of the total population is a great example of a violent conflict that fits both the greed and grievance based explanation. At the time, Sierra Leon was a country based on a one party system and dominated by the APC also known as the ‘All people’s congress’. During the APC regime there was great misuse of political power for the parties personal gain. There appeared to be great decline of “total output, neglect of agriculture, increase in unemployment, deterioration and neglect of agriculture, increase in unemployment” (Naguib, 2015). Although the president at the time made major reforms that pushed for a more democratic state, that guaranteed basic human rights, he did not keep his promising allowing the APC to continue in

Firstly, the bibliography is not representative of the vast existing literature about conflict, development and violence (Jones and Rodgers 2011).The majority of the literature mentioned is based on quantitative parallels between economic and political aspects and conflict. This goes against the World Bank claims that “Our approach is multidisciplinary and draws on both quantitative and qualitative evidence” (2011, p. 73). The lack of qualitative data is also apparent in the report’s explanation that it structure is adequate with theories of violence in various disciplines with the use of box 3.4 page 104 that is based on the research of economists. Even tough they are prominent scholars in the violence and conflict debate; they are novice in this debate that emerged with classic figures that are not mentioned in the bibliography such as Machiavelli arguing that conflict contributes to the stability of the society (in Jones and Rodgers 2011, p.983). Hobbes is mentioned only once page 75. This is also the case for Tilly (2003) that is considered as one of the most prominent scholars that have studied the relation between violence and the state. The main idea in his work is about what work does violence and conflicts do and make a distinction between many types of violence, what the report does not. Finally, Galtung developed the idea of peacebuilding, insisting on the formation of peacebuilding structure in

All countries are part of a global economy that is constantly trying to develop and progress. Sometimes, however these developmental stages arrive in countries at different times, some later than others. With this lack of development emerges fragile states which may endanger not only themselves and neighbouring states but, also international security, peace, and overall global economy. These unstable countries, riddled with poverty pose an increasing threat towards causing intensified conflicts. To counter these threats and conflicts in attempts to keep and restore peace, international humanitarian interventions are often used. In theory, these humanitarian interventions are foolproof and in a perfect world would easily eradicate poverty. In

Additionally, current studies suggest that rapid urbanization and economic recession are variables required for the violent conflicts to happen (xxx, 54). This largely relates to the impacts of structural adjustment policies promoted by international financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank on poor nations (xxx, 55). Global economic recession, incapable economic and administrative organizations, and financial and fiscal bungle at the national level all contribute their part (xxx, 56). Unending economic problems prompt rising grievances in the population and among marginalized groups. Extended economic crisis squeezes tax revenues, and consequently debilitates all state establishments including the legal, the administration,

Many of the armed conflicts in Africa take on two primary forms. Those that are stationary to a town or geographical region and those that are moving or roving (Beardsly & Lo, 2015). These conflicts can be further stratified into those that involve a political figure or a religious sect. Further, these conflicts must be fueled by money from an internal or external source and powered by arms from the same.

This theoretical framework will also be beneficial for practitioners especially within the context of individuals and institutions responsible for organising and providing foreign aid and other forms of assistance to developing nations that inhibit our established steps towards authoritarian democracies. Our research can help establish frameworks for donor states to incentivise authoritarian democracies towards more accepted Western standards as well as help prevent governments becoming more authoritarian.