States and Peoples in Conflict: Pillars, Forms, and Transformations in Conflict Studies

Abstract

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book surveys theoretical and empirical research on the origins, processes, patterns, and consequences of most forms and contexts of political conflict, protest, repression, rebellion, war, and terrorism within and across state boundaries. It examines one of the key pillars at the base of conflict: discrimination and the grievances that arise from it. The book also argues that solutions to the apparent impasse may reside in further work on selection bias and group inclusion issues by the Minorities at Risk research group, and on a recently developed Ethnic Power Relations (EPR) dataset, which permits a more direct operationalization of grievance. It examines several of the most important types of conflict: terrorism, revolutions, state failure, genocide and mass murder, transnational conflicts, and civil wars. The book explores the role of liberalism in modern conflict. It also addresses the relationship between religion and conflict.