Since the end of the Cold War, there has been a shift towards Kaldor’s theory of ‘new wars.’ While there has been a shift towards new wars, it does not mean, however, that ‘old wars’ have disappeared, particularly with wars such as Iraq and Afghanistan occurring. Many factors have influenced the change of organized violence on an international stage, namely: globalization and advancements in technology, as mentioned previously. Due these factors, the argument that ‘new...
Since the end of the Cold War, there has been a shift towards Kaldor’s theory of ‘new wars.’ While there has been a shift towards new wars, it does not mean, however, that ‘old wars’ have disappeared, particularly with wars such as Iraq and Afghanistan occurring. Many factors have influenced the change of organized violence on an international stage, namely: globalization and advancements in technology, as mentioned previously. Due these factors, the argument that ‘new wars’ are not simply a continuation of traditional warfare but are a separate phenomenon holds weight. This is especially the case when analyzing Kaldor’s claims that the new war theory is predominantly targeted at influencing policy-makers on how to create an effective policy to combat the problems which arise from new conflicts. Thus violence in International Relations has changed over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries with a new model of violence becoming significant; however, it has not replaced the traditional thinking of violence entirely.
