Conflict in Darfur

Every time the television is turned on viewers are exposed to conflicts occurring on the other side of the globe. Technology has made it so that some struggle occurring in some distant land is simply the morning headline for the common person. As the world becomes more and more connected, once domestic conflicts soon spread to the international level. This is why it becomes increasingly important to understand how a conflict can be formed, as well as how they are able to affect a much greater population than those parties involved directly.

The objective of this paper is to address the ongoing crisis in Darfur and how it relates to international relations topics. This will be done by first bringing the reader up to speed with a historical summary of the Darfur Conflict so that they understand what is happening there. The next section will analyze the situation in Darfur using various international relations concepts. The final section will discuss the implications of the conflict on the international level, meaning, “Why should the world care? How does it affect other countries?”

In the Darfur region, part of Sudan, a civil war (often referred to as genocide) has been occurring for approximately 8 years. The current conflict began in 2003 when rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement, made up of the Fur, Zaghawa and Masalit tribes took up arms against the government of Sudan because the non-Arab Sudanese felt oppressed and that the government was in favor of Sudanese Arabs. A previous period of conflict in Sudan-Darfur during 1985-1988 saw only 9,000 killed, while during the first 3 years of this most recent conflict, 2003-2006, over 200,000 Darfurians are believed to have been...

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...er populous than just those being oppressed within its borders.

Works Cited

Brunk, Darren. "Dissecting Darfur: Anatomy of a Genocide Debate." International Relations 22 (2008): 25-44.

Clough, Michael. "Darfur: Whose Responsibility to Protect?" World Report (2005).

Goldstein, Joshua S. and Jon C Pevehouse. International Relations, Brief Fifth Edition, 2010-2011 Update. Longman, 2011.

Ho, Kathleen. "Structural Violence as a Human Rights Violation." Essex Human Rights Review 4.2 (2007).

Hunt, David. "The International Criminal Court." Journal of International Criminal Justice (2004): 56-70.

Prunier, Gerard. Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide. Cornell University Press, 2007.

Quigley, John. The Genocide Convention: An International Law Analysis. Ashgate, 2007.

Wax, Emily. "Sudan, Rebels Reach Accord on Darfur." Washington Post 10 November 2004: A01.