Intensity of Conflict after the Cold War

In the intensity of violence, to what extent have the conflict in Kosovo and the genocide in Rwanda been representative of other conflicts after the Cold War?

UN Peacekeepers. UN Photo.

Ethnic Violence
The genocide in Rwanda was one of the worst cases of ethnic violence in world history. On a smaller but still substantial scale, ethnic violence cost lives in countries such as Burundi, Yemen and Ethiopia. The collapse of authoritarian communism unleashed latent ethnic violence in many societies besides Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. Other conflicts include Georgia, Armenia/Azerbaijan and Chechnya.

Civil Violence
Since the end of the Cold War, civil violence has cost lives in nations across the globe, including East Timor, Guatemala, Colombia and Somalia. Civil war continued in Cambodia, Sudan and Angola, and broke out in Liberia, enmeshed in broader international conflicts. Many more examples could be cited.

Interstate War
Throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century, the possibility of major interstate war has continued to loom in such diverse places as Korea and Kashmir. Two large interstate wars have taken place in Iraq.

Whether in the diplomatic community, the military, international civilian police, or non-governmental organizations, those who work in areas of conflict have had to ask themselves a fundamental and potentially disturbing question: has the intensity of conflict actually increased since the end of Cold War?

In the early 1990s, the statistics were not encouraging. With 93 wars in 70 countries, the period from 1990 to 1995 was twice as lethal as any decade since World War II. In fact, of the estimated 22 million people who have died in conflicts since 1945, one-quarter of those deaths occurred in the early 1990s.

The late 1990s saw a decline in violence. The end of apartheid in South Africa, some progress towards peace in the Middle East, and a general worldwide trend toward democratic governance raised hopes once again that conflicts might be easier to manage in the new century. However, these hopes were tempered by several events, including the crisis in the peace process in the Middle East and the terrorist threat that brutally made itself manifest on September 11, 2001.