Internationalization of Intrastate Armed Conflict

When it comes to academic debates about current changes in the global patterns of armed conflict, one observation stands out: The first two decades of the 21^st century seem to be characterized by a significant trend of internationalization. Scholars have noted a sharp increase in the number and share of internationalized intrastate armed conflicts, a heightened role of transnationally oriented armed groups, and an increase in the forms, actors and intensity of external support in armed conflicts. Overall, thus, it seems that we are witnessing an important transformation of armed conflict in that civil wars – and intrastate armed conflict below the threshold of war – are becoming ever less a domestic affair. But do existing data and studies really allow for such a sweeping conclusion? And, what precisely is behind this supposed trend of internationalization? 

This collaborative project, which is conducted in the context of the research center Transformations of Political Violence (TraCe) and in cooperation with Goethe University Frankfurt, sets out to critically reviewing the data and research that speaks to the internationalization of intrastate conflict proposition. Its aims are to develop a conceptualization of the overall phenomenon, systematically review and integrate existing research, and conduct focused studies to deepen our knowledge on key forms of internationalization.

Image: UCDP, CC BY 4.0.