ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the existing literature in several areas of study that deal with the escalation of and solution to internal and internationalized conflict and discusses how different areas of literature have provided foundations for our arguments. In contrast to traditional international politics theories like realism, domestic peace theorists argued that a more comprehensive analysis of state behaviour would have to include both domestic and international elements. Instrumentalist approaches see ethnicity as a powerful tool used by elites to motivate, mobilize, or generate action to achieve particular goods. Midlarsky looks at the conditions leading up to World War I in Bosnia and the surrounding areas and finds that the origins of the conflict stem from shifting social inequalities and land disputes that spiraled into world war. A variety of non-state actors form coalitions across borders to impact policy decisions; non-governmental organizations (NGOs) thus play an important role in transforming international structures.
