Joint Virtual Special Issue on Conflict

Conflict is one of the main characteristics of global politics. Such conflict may not necessarily be violent, but all too often it becomes so and may culminate in inter-state, intra-state or more recently, hybrid forms of warfare. Conflict may be generated by a number of factors such as status inequalities, a shortage of economic resources, environmental change and attitudes towards national and ethnic identity. The ubiquity of such conflicts drives academic research into trying to understand the causes and nature of such conflicts and indeed into how such conflicts (may) come to be resolved. It is in this light that in conjunction with Taylor and Francis, the editors of Civil Wars, Ethnopolitics and the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding are pleased to offer this joint virtual special issue to interested readers. 

The primary focus of the virtual special is one of war to peace transitions and post-conflict statebuilding. However, we have also availed ourselves of the opportunity to demonstrate the broader range of topics with which the three journals are concerned. Similarly, the virtual special issue has been crafted in order to demonstrate the intellectual and thematic focus of each journal, and to show how the three journals possess a creative synergy unique within the field of conflict studies. As this selection demonstrates, our studies are not confined to any particular geopolitical space. In addition, the papers we have chosen demonstrate the variety of methodological choices available to scholars undertaking investigations into the field of conflict studies. Some take an empirically based case study approach. With others the focus lies more with a broader comparative or indeed primarily theoretical approach. 

Our hope is that readers who have previously engaged with any or all of the three journals will find that the sample selected for the virtual special issue will stimulate further interest in the field of study. With regard to new readers, our objective is to furnish them with a series of articles that stimulates their interest in the field under examination and indeed, into related fields. The editors believe that this selection of papers will stimulate discussion and interest in the broader theme of conflict resolution and indeed generate wider academic discussion and exchange.