Do Human Rights Violations Cause Internal Conflict?

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Much has been written about how post-civil war societies must confront the human rights violations committed during the conflict; however, very little scholarship has examined how human rights violations can lead to civil wars. In their article, “Do Human Rights Violations Cause Internal Conflict?” , Thoms and Ron provide an original and comprehensive analysis of the macro-level trends linking human rights violations in a country with the emergence and escalation of conflict. They use cross-national studies of conflict and individual case studies as part of their “human rights framework” to demonstrate this link. Through this, they argue that violations of civil and political rights are civil war triggers, while discrimination and violations of social and economic rights are underlying risk factors. However, they are unable to provide precise causal links, casting doubt on their argument. While the use of the human rights framework …show more content…

He notes the new research points towards rebel group motivations, rebel group financing, the predominance of misperceptions and commitment problems; and military factors such as state capacity all being relevant variables affecting the duration of civil wars. Based on these conclusions, Hegre provides a set of policy recommendations for the international community. Among these are efforts focused on the promotion of equitable development, curbing rebel finances, shifting the military balance, and including third party mediators in negotiations. These recommendations reflect consensus with the research of several other authors. His discussion of state capacity and economics is reminiscent of the research done by Sambanis and Walter, while in mentioning misconceptions and commitment problems he parallels the arguments of Belge, Kalyvas, and

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