A fault line war is one that takes place between two or more identity groups (usually religious or ethnic) from different civilizations. It is a communal conflict between states or groups from different

civilizations A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). Civ ...

that has become violent. These wars may take place between states, between nongovernmental groups, or between states and nongovernmental groups. Most often, the issue in a fault line war is often over territory, but it could also be over the control of people. Such wars within states may involve groups that are predominantly located in different territories or groups that are intermixed. In the latter, violence often erupts periodically. The issue at stake in a fault line war is very symbolic for at least one of the groups involved. Because the issue is one of fundamental identity, these wars are longer and more difficult to resolve than conventional warfare. And even when agreements are reached, the groups are rarely fully satisfied, and often the hatred is only dissolved through

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

Samuel P. Huntington Samuel Phillips Huntington (April 18, 1927December 24, 2008) was an American political scientist, adviser, and academic. He spent more than half a century at Harvard University, where he was director of Harvard's Center for International Affairs ...

(1996). '' The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order'' (Simon & Schuster, ), pg. 253.

References

Wars by type {{politics-stub

See also

References