Civil War and Political Violence in Asia

Internal armed conflicts, violent contests of power within sovereign states, have emerged as the deadliest form of political violence in Asia. Over the past seven decades, more than a million people have been killed and countless others displaced as a result of civil wars, mass killings, ethnic riots and terror attacks across the region. Apart from the tragic loss of human lives, these conflicts have and continue to impede economic and political development of the nation states they seek to contest. This course examines the major ideological, economic and sociological drivers of internal armed conflicts in Asia. We will review influential theories from political science and sociology that explain the onset, conduct and termination of armed conflict and will assess how they apply to past and ongoing conflicts in Asia. The course will pay special attention to empirical issues in the study of political violence and the challenges of collecting data in information poor environments. We will also look at the success and failures of peace-making efforts and the precarious process of post-conflict recovery.