ABSTRACT
According to a growing body of academic writing the nature of war has been taking a different turn in the last decades.1 The line of argument that these analysts follow traces the transformation from large-scale inter-state conventional war to new forms of organized violence in which not only states but also “private,” non-state actors use violent means to further their goals. The hopeful expectations prevalent at the end of the Cold War that armed conflict would diminish with the end of big-power rivalry have indeed to a large extent been eroded. The continuing proliferation of violent conflicts in a large number of countries in what was known as the Second and Third Worlds, but also in some parts of the most developed world, indicate the difficulties that many states face in maintaining their monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force. In the field of security and peace studies these violent conflicts are often referred to as intra-state wars (Jung and Schlichte 1999). And indeed, organized violence is more confined within state boundaries than ever before in this century. These intra-state conflicts, however, take place in a context of globalization, which links local actors in war zones, their economies, social networks, and military-political power resources to global actors of both a public and a private signature.
