ABSTRACT
Although general theories should apply to all forms of armed conflict, a curious dichotomy has developed between empirical studies that analyze inter-state conflicts and those that deal with civil war or intra-state conflict. Whereas studies of civil war tend to look primarily at features within countries that are believed to affect the risk of war – such as weak government institutions or terrain that facilitates insurgencies – studies of interstate conflict generally look at attributes of relations between states, such as the extent of trade, power ratios, and geographic distance. In this chapter, we contend that the analytical separation between internal and external conflict is a false dichotomy, which masks strong linkages between conflict within states and conflict between governments. Just as international factors may influence the opportunity and willingness of domestic actors to challenge the state, what begin as ‘internal’ conflicts may become the subject of stateto-state militarized disputes.
