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Exploring the intricacies of civil wars, this overview discusses academic definitions, thresholds for classification, historical occurrences, and the application of the Geneva Conventions. It delves into the criteria set by scholars like James Fearon and Stathis Kalyvas, the debate on casualty counts for defining civil wars, and the ICRC's criteria for applying humanitarian laws during such conflicts.
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Civil war is a form of high-intensity conflict that takes place within the boundaries of a single country
According to scholars, civil war is a struggle for power or policy changes waged by organized groups at the national or regional level
The state itself must be one of the combatants in a civil war, as clarified by Ann Hironaka
The academic community debates the criteria for labeling a conflict as a civil war, with a common threshold being a minimum of 1,000 casualties
Some scholars add that at least 100 deaths must occur on each side for a conflict to be considered a civil war
The Correlates of War project considers conflicts with over 1,000 war-related deaths per year to be civil wars
Research using the 1,000 casualties per year benchmark indicates that from 1816 to 1997, there were 213 civil wars
The majority of civil wars occurred post-1944, according to research using the 1,000 casualties per year benchmark
As of 2007, there were over 90 civil wars with a cumulative total of 1,000 casualties, with 20 of them still ongoing
The Geneva Conventions, which establish international law for wartime conduct, cover "armed conflicts not of an international character," including civil wars
The ICRC has provided guidance on how the Geneva Conventions apply to civil wars, noting the deliberately broad and flexible language used
The ICRC identifies several factors, such as the presence of an organized military force in rebellion and adherence to the laws of war, that determine the applicability of the Geneva Conventions to civil wars
00
______ from Stanford University characterizes civil war as a contest for control at the national or regional level.
James Fearon
01
Civil wars are conflicts where the state must be one of the ______, as explained by Ann Hironaka.
combatants
02
According to ______, civil wars occur within a sovereign state and involve groups previously under a unified authority.
Stathis Kalyvas
