Page 161 - Abhivruddhi

Introduction:
Armed conflicts or Wars are not new to human history. Humans have
been fighting over property and power since ancient times. Myneni defines
war as “situation between two or more conflicting states use armed forces
to settle their disputes.” (Myneni S.R., 2005). They can be of a different type;
Conventional wars- state-based armed conflicts, Civil wars-revolution
within the nation, Guerilla war- where ethics of war are not followed and
Cold war- a war of nerves. Nevertheless, the recent face of conflicts can be
regarded as much more violent than its previous counterparts. Humankind,
in its time survived two great devastating wars (World War I, 1914 to
1918 and World War II, 1939-1945) and a phenomenon called as the cold
war (1947 to 1991) since the age of industrialization. The introduction of
nuclear weapons in World War II had severe repercussions on the world
and threat was once again experienced during the Cuban missile crisis.
As we have moved from bilateralism to multilateralism, there has been
a rise in the number of proxy wars fought for establishing supremacy.
Two new forms of war have developed after the cold war. The first one
is a Revolution in Military Affairs; practice of advanced technology and
highly specialized forces. And the other one is carried out by non-state
mercenaries, which particularly consists of violence on the civilians and
use of guerilla combat (Gregory D., 2009).
The consequences of war extend far beyond direct deaths. War creates
a development gap between the countries that have experienced war
and those who have not. (Gates S. et al, 2012). War causes loss of life
and property, severe impact on social order, long-lasting impact on the
physical and mental health of civilians. Conflicts are responsible for the
destruction of both private as well as public infrastructure. Sectors like
electricity, telecommunications, schools, water supply and health facilities
are affected as well. Whether the conflict is taking place in the home
country or the foreign soil, negative impacts of armed conflicts have
spared none. Apart from political and socio-cultural, armed conflicts have
severe economic impacts on the world. Current article is an attempt to
understand the same. Before diving into the details of study, some insight
is given on the terms and topics that will be further discussed in the study.

The global economy and World GDP:
Economic factor has constantly fallen under both ‘cause’ and ‘effect’ of
conflict. The type of economic policy chosen by the government is one of
the factors that determines the likelihood of conflict and economic costs

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