civil war

noun a war between political factions or regions within the same country.
(Military) war between parties, factions, or inhabitants of different regions within the same nation

For other uses, see Civil War (disambiguation) A civil war is a war in which the competing parties are segments of the same country or empire. Civil war is usually a high intensity stage in an unresolved political struggle for national control of state power. As in any war, the conflict may be over other matters such as religion, ethnicity, or distribution of wealth. Some civil wars are also categorized as revolutions when major societal restructuring is a possible outcome of the conflict. An insurgency, whether successful or not, is likely to be classified as a civil war by history if and only if organised armies fight conventional battles. Ultimately the distinction between a "civil war" and a "revolution" or other name is arbitrary, and determined by usage. The successful insurgency of the 1640s in England which led to the (temporary) overthrow of the monarchy became known as the English Civil War. The successful insurgency of the 1770s in British colonies in America, with organised armies fighting battles, came to be known as the American Revolution.

Root causes
Again the forces of religion, ideology, and nationalism can rarely be considered the root cause of a civil war. Almost every nation has minority groups, religious plurality, and ideological divisions, but few plunge into civil war. Sociologists have long searched for what variables trigger civil wars. In the modern world most civil wars occur in nations that are poor, autocratic, and regionally divided. However the United States was one of the wealthiest and most democratic countries in the world at the time of its bloody civil war. Some models of why civil wars occur stress the importance of change and transition. Thus the American civil war was caused by the growing economic power of the north relative to the south; the Lebanese Civil War by the upsetting of the delicate demographic balance by the increase in the Shi'ite population; the English Civil War by the growing power of the middle class and merchants at the expense of the aristocracy.

Competition for resources and wealth within a society is seen as a frequent cause for civil wars, however economic gain is rarely the justification espoused by the participants. Marxist historians stress economic and class factors arguing that civil wars are caused by imperialist rulers battling each other for greater power, and using tools such as nationalism and religion to delude people into joining them. In this model revolutions, which many Marxists see peasant revolts as a prelude to, are a completely different phenomena motivated by spontaneous rejection of elite domination and economic oppression by the working class. Angola, 1974-1989, 1995-1997, 1998-2002 Burundi, 1988-1991, 1993-2001 Cambodia, 1978-1993, 1997-1998 First Congo War, Zaire etc, 1996-1997 Second Congo War, DRC, 1998-present Republic of the Congo, 1997, 1998 Cte d'Ivoire, 1999-2000, 2002-present Liberia, 1989-1996, 1999-present

Rwanda, 1990-1997

Sierra Leone, 1991-2002 Somalian Civil War, 1991-present Sudanese Civil War, Sudan, 1955-1972, 1983-present Uganda, 1987-present