Hi, I'm Julie Tietz, and welcome to Conflict Resolution-- Putting the Pieces Together. Today, we're going to discuss international and intranational conflict.
So international conflict, you are probably familiar with the term and have heard about certain situations in the news. And so we are going to define international conflict as a conflict that is between state actors or Nations so individuals or leaders involved in specific states that are against each other or nations as a whole that are in conflict with one another, whether that is maybe economic conflict or possible armed conflict as well.
And we can also refer to international conflict to interstate conflict. So that's another term for international conflict. And so, even though international conflict does involve state actors and nations in conflict with one another, there is also another piece that is called intranational conflict.
And so that is between ethnic or other groups that are within a state and within the boundaries of a political state or entity. And that is on a national scale. So again, that is intranational conflict. It can be confusing with international, but it's intranational conflict.
And we can also refer to intranational conflict as intrastate conflict. So that's just another term we can use for that conflict. So some examples of intrastate or intranational conflict would include Bosnia, so the ethnic conflict between the Serbs and Muslims in Bosnia.
Also, Rwanda is an example, between the Hutus and Tutsis. As well as the situation going on in Darfur in Sudan. So conflict surrounding guerrilla warfare and civil warfare over Arab and non-Arab groups. And another example is Northern Ireland between the Catholics and Protestants of that region.
So intrastate conflict really arises typically over an unequal distribution of power and wealth and resources with in that particular country. So let's use the example of the Northern Ireland conflict. So we have the Protestants and Catholics living in Northern Ireland, which is a part of the UK. And the Protestants really identify with that identity of being part of the United Kingdom, whereas the Catholics really identify with being a part of Ireland-- the Republic of Ireland.
And so Protestants want to remain with the UK. Catholics want to join and become part of the Republic of Ireland. And so the people that are living in Northern Ireland, the majority of them are Protestants.
And so because of this makeup, they were able to accumulate a lot of the political power and the power within organizations and the wealth with certain jobs. Only certain employers would employ Protestants, or only Catholics in some situations. And so Catholics were left out with a lot of the resources. And Protestants controlled the majority of that.
And because of this unequal distribution of power, wealth, and resources, Catholics rose up in a way and wanted to make their lives better and have a more equal society. And because of this struggle to obtain more power and wealth and resources, conflict has ensued. And this is a conflict that has gone on for centuries. And it's really embedded within that culture.
And so when we're talking about intrastate conflict, we need to remember or focus on social identity theory. And social identity theory is how individuals and groups develop their identity. And relate that to groups in terms of their identity.
So once they do that, we are creating that in-group/out-group dynamic. So the in-group is the group in which you are a member of. The out-group is the group that you're not a member of.
And this creates a dynamic where we can lead towards discriminating against those that are in the out-group. And this is really important to note in intrastate conflict is that when we are dealing with ethnic conflict or other group conflict, we are forming those in-group/out-group dynamics and are really formulating an attribution bias where we want to think more positively of our own groups and tend to think more negatively about the out-groups. And the stronger that negative feelings or attributions are, the more and more intense or likely a conflict will arise.
So when we're thinking about or looking at international and intranational conflict, we need to take into consideration the responses that may or may not come from nations outside of that conflict. And so we need to look at interconnection. And when we're talking about international conflict, that's really understanding that the decisions that one country makes can have an impact on the other countries that are not involved. And that's through various kinds of formal and informal relationships.
So let's say there is a conflict in a country. And that may impact trade. And the country is so involved in their intrastate conflict that they really aren't focusing on business of trade.
And so the exports and the imports are affected by that. And other countries may depend upon certain goods that country has to provide to them. And they also may rely on them importing their goods and for that country that's in conflict to purchase that. So that's just one example of conflict and interconnection.
And we also need to consider sovereignty. So maybe we think that our countries should go and help. But we have to consider sovereignty.
And that's where we have an established right of a recognized government to determine their own policies and laws of their country. And so we can't just necessarily go in and come in and swoop and change everything. We have to consider that country's sovereignty and recognize their rights as a nation.
Let's look at our key points on international and intranational conflicts. So an international conflict involves nations and state actors, whereas an intranational conflict involves ethnic and other groups that are within the boundaries of that specific national state.
And when we are looking at intranational or intrastate conflict, we need to take into consideration the social identity theory where that influences how we identify with certain groups. And when there is a conflict, we also have to consider the innerconnection of that intrastate conflict. So, how it impacts other countries in various ways. For example, it impacts trade in our example.
Also, we have to consider the nation's sovereignty. So their own rights to determine their laws and policies.
Here are your key terms before you go. Thank you so much for taking the time out. And I can't wait to catch you again next time.
