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SOCIOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS 117

Political leaders may, furthermore, be occurred at the frontiers between the princi-
responsible for policies that intend to main- pal Western states, but existed between the
tain their hold of power or that intend to ben- ‘free world’ and the states with communist
efit society as a whole. Certain privileged regimes. The Cold War led to a bipolar
groups, as some theoretical approaches have system of military conflicts, even in develop-
emphasized, can hinder growth after a con- ing countries, favouring one or the other of
flict. The deficiency in growth will perpetu- the systems. The period beginning in the
ate tensions and the result will be further 1990s marks an era when major conflicts
domestic conflicts. Political and military between larger states disappeared and when
repression implemented to maintain the minor, but often highly violent, conflicts
power of the reigning elite will contribute to of smaller states and societies became more
fuel resistance movements. It is obvious that frequent.
these conflicts waste valuable resources and The beginning and the end of the period of
hinder investments that may benefit the the Cold War were marked by two principal
whole of society. Illustrative cases are con- military and political crises: that of the period
centrated in sub-Saharan Africa in particular. from 1945 to 1947 and that of the period from
The above-mentioned findings demonstrate 1989 to 1991, when the global order emerged
that civil wars, which have become more from the breakdown of the Cold War order.
prevalent than international conflicts, cannot The former national–international order was
be ignored by prosperous nations. They are characterized by international, or rather,
largely concentrated in low-income coun- interstate conflicts. Revolutions and civil
tries. Yet these conflicts can impact the world conflicts were based on this international
as a whole, and not only neighbouring coun- structure. Conflicts of this period displayed
tries, as the Iraqi conflict demonstrates. The the antagonism between the two sides of the
attempt to impose democratic accountability Cold War. After the end of the Cold War, new
and constitutional government has been forms of disintegration appeared, linked to
destructive in this case. Reconstruction the failure of communist states. Conflicts
aid must certainly be linked to reforms and arose in the former Soviet and the former
institution-building efforts, but political Yugoslavian multinational states, where
pragmatism has to be supported by research- elites fought for political control of new
based programmes, in order to obtain success- states and territories. In Somalia and in some
ful post-conflict environments. other African states, local forms of rule disin-
tegrated. Recent conflicts are thus geograph-
ically localized. In unstable forms of some
Empirical evidence of conflicts in states there are now conflicts which question
the global order, rather than the Cold War
the post-World War II era
system, as was the case in the past. Currently,
Conflicts have seldom become a topic of interstate conflicts are more or less limited to
empirical transformation and development ‘villain’ states, such as the Iraq of Sadam
5
studies, yet some rather general remarks can Hussein. Most of the states in the world no
be formulated. The world of the end of the longer accept violent situations with other
nineteenth century was a world of nation- states, although some may indirectly support
states in competition. The global world of the conflicts against populations in their own
twenty-first century is a world characterized territories or in those of their neighbours (for
by political unity where territorial frontiers example Congo (Vlassenroot, 2003)). Often,
no longer form violent borderlines. After these later states are no longer able to impose
World War II, the new global order was based taxes and/or raise armies. New forms of
on the cooperation of states in the system of policing, a function that the USA, the United
the United Nations. Violence no longer Nations and the European Union began to