ABSTRACT
the end of the Second World War the forms of violent conflicts in the international system have undergone a tremendous change. This chapter describes an account of the state of the art cannot be given, because a complete overview about all efforts made in this direction or even about all current research projects deserves a study for itself. It presents some results of the long-standing research project undertaken by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kriegsursachenforschung (AKUF) and to stimulate critical comments and remarks on results which have not yet been published in English. Therefore warlordism, war economies, the privatization of violence and their complex linkages to the international system mark an important field for future research. The statistical findings of the AKUF clearly show a shift from inter-state to intra-state wars since the end of World War Two. Therefore, the modernization process becomes the central conflict generating variable for the explanation of global war development.
