Topic: Armed conflicts in the world

Author: Anna Rabiega

Addressee:

8th‑grade primary school student.

Core curriculum:

XII. International affairs.

The student:

5) formulates judgements on selected social problems of the contemporary world; considers proposals of actions aimed at improving the living conditions of other people in the world.

The general aim of education:

The student has some basic knowledge on selected international issues.

Learning outcomes:

The student:

• presents the current scale and locations of armed conflicts in the world.

• explains the differences between a war, an armed conflict and an international dispute.

• analyses the causes of contemporary armed conflicts.

• presents the consequences of armed conflicts.

Key competences:

• communicating in a foreign language,

• digital competence,

• learning to learn,

• social and civic competences.

Teaching methods:

• fishbone diagram,

• snowball method,

• pros and cons discussion,

• teaching conversation using scheme, interactive board, interactive exercises.

Forms of work:

• self‑learning,

• work in pairs,

• group work,

• whole‑class activity.

Material & equipment needed:

• computers with loudspeakers/headphones and internet access,

• multimedia resources from the e‑textbook,

• interactive whiteboard/blackboard, felt‑tip pen/a piece of chalk.

Lesson plan overview (Process):

Introduction:

1. The teacher presents the goal of the lesson: You will analyse the causes, manifestations and consequences of contemporary international conflicts.

2. The teacher asks the students:

• In their opinion, how many armed conflicts are currently taking place in the world?

• How many, in their opinion, armed conflicts were there in the world since the end of the Second World War?

Students write down their opinions on sheets of paper. The teacher asks them to read these numbers aloud and writes down on the board the lowest and highest values the students have proposed for each question.

The teacher then asks the students to check the answers to these questions by reading the abstract or by taking advantage of a variety of internet sources, e.g.

• IRIN – Mapped – a world at war;

• WARS IN THE WORLD – List of ongoing Conflicts;

• Council on Foreign Relations – Global Conflict Tracker;

• Wikipedia – List of ongoing armed conflicts;

• Uppsala Conflict Data Program.

The teacher then asks the students:

• How close to the truth were they in their estimates and what, according to them, is the reason for the discrepancy between their predictions and the actual values?

• Why are the numbers presented by different internet sources not identical?

Implementation:

1. The teacher informs the students that in order to come up with a definition of the following terms:

• international dispute,

• armed conflict, and

• war,

they will use the snowball method and, if necessary, explains this method. First, the students write down their definition of each of these terms individually. Then they form pairs, discuss their proposals and agree on joint, improved definitions. Then the pairs form a group of four, a group of four forms a group of eight, etc., and each time the process of discussing and improving the definitions is repeated until the class as a whole comes up with a joint definition of each term. The teacher controls the duration of each stage of the task. When the time for the whole task is up, the teacher asks selected students to write the definitions on the board and, if necessary, completes and improves them.

2. During the next stage of the lesson, the students will use a fishbone diagram. The teacher draws the appropriate shape on the board, writes „Causes of armed conflicts” in the „head” of the fish and, if necessary, explains this method to the students. The teacher appoints a moderator who writes down the most common causes of armed conflicts in the world and the examples of their occurrence, if they appear in the students' answers. If necessary, the teacher corrects and completes the students' answers. In order to analyse the consequences of armed conflicts, the teacher asks a willing/selected student to present all the causes of the armed conflicts they have managed to identify together.

3. In order to analyse the consequences of armed conflicts, the students, who are working in pairs, are asked to write the political, social and economic consequences of armed conflicts. The teacher sets a time limit for this task and afterwards asks willing/selected students to read their solutions aloud, successively in relation to the political, social and economic consequences. The teacher asks the students if any other consequences of armed conflicts come to their minds. If students find it difficult to identify other consequences, the teacher can ask guiding questions, e.g. How do armed conflicts affect culture (or other areas)?

The teacher then displays on an interactive board the „Social, political, and economic consequences of armed conflicts” scheme and asks the students to verify their answers.

4. The teacher asks the students if they remember how the international community tries to prevent conflicts or their escalation. The teacher displays the „Why is peace impossible?” interactive board on the board and asks the students to analyse how the interests of the three members of the Security Council: the United States of America, Russia, and China, render it impossible to solve armed conflicts. The moderator writes down the students' suggestions on the board. At the end, a willing/selected student summarizes the arguments that were presented.

5. Then the teacher initiates a short discussion on the following subject: „Are armed conflicts a good (proper, effective) method of resolving international disputes? Are wars unavoidable?”. The students present their arguments for and against. At the end of the discussion, the teacher asks two willing/selected students to summarize the discussion – one student is supposed to speak out as a proponent of wars as a way of resolving conflicts, and the other should be against them.

Summary:

1. To sum up, the teacher briefly presents the most important issues that were just discussed in the classroom. The teacher answers students' additional questions and clears up any doubts they may have. Students complete their notes.

2. Homework proposal:

a. Do Exercise 1. Describe 5 selected armed conflicts. State their causes, course and consequences. You can use different information sources.

b. Listen to the abstract recording to review the material and new vocabulary. Then do the vocabulary exercise at the end of the chapter.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Armed conflicts in the world

There are around 200 countries in the world, and several times more national, ethnic and tribal groups. Countries and groups have their interests and goals – either shared or divergent. If the interests and values are shared, countries and groups cooperate with each other. And if the goals are divergent, a conflict may appear.

Sources of armed conflicts

The cause of conflicts is the divergence of interests and goals of the parties involved. However, not every divergence of interests leads to an armed conflict. An armed conflict occurs, when the parties are unable or unwilling to reconcile peacefully. The sources are usually economic, political or ideological. Often, conflicts have a complex character, i.e. there are many causes of their outbreak. For example the conflicts in Africa are typically territorial, religious and ethnic at the same time. The artificial, postcolonial character of state borders, dividing nationalities and tribes, is a serious source of conflicts on the continent. Economic factors occupy an important place among the causes of conflicts. They include access to fossil fuels or even drinking water. Ideological and religious factors are also significant sources of armed conflicts. The ideological factor was an underlying cause for many conflicts during the Cold War. A current example could be the religious background of the Israeli‑Arab conflict in the Middle East. The reasons for conflicts can also be traced to external interference, armaments or the aspirations of regional powers for domination.

Scale and geography

In the years 1945–1983 there were over 150 wars in which over 80 countries were involved. Statistics show that there were 12 armed conflicts per year. According to some experts, since the end of second world war, the longest period without any conflict was 26 days. Others say that it was only 2–4 days. Until 1991, the number of armed conflicts increased to 180.

Currently, most conflicts take place in Asia and Africa. In these areas conflicts are very bloody and it is extremely difficult to solve them. In Asia, these are mainly disputes and conflicts between states, often of a territorial nature (e.g. conflict over Kashmir) and bloody civil wars (e.g. civil war in Syria). In the Middle East, the main concern is the conflict between Israel and the Arab states and Palestine. Conflicts of interests of the United States, Russia and China make it difficult to solve these problems with the participation of the United Nations.

In Africa armed conflicts are mostly civil wars. They are characterized by a large number of fighting parties, and the main victims are civilians. Inter‑tribal and inter‑faith disputes prevail on the continent. In the 21st century, there were wars, among others, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan or Chad. The object of disputes and conflicts in Africa is often the access to raw materials. Other extremely serious sources of violence in Asian and African countries are terrorism and radical Islamism. In comparison to disputes and conflicts in Asia and Africa, South America and North America seem to be quiet continents. Over the past dozen or so years, there have been no intra‑national or international conflicts in Europe. However, not more than a few decades ago, there were problematic areas in Europe, too – for example the separatist movement in Northern Ireland or the bloody war between the former Yugoslavian states.

Consequences of armed conflicts

One of the most serious consequences of armed conflicts is population loss. It is difficult to estimate how many people on a global scale were killed in them. However, the number of civilian casualties is systematically increasing. In the first world war, civilians accounted for 5% of human losses, in the second world war – 50%, and in some ethnic conflicts in Africa, these losses amount to as much as 80–85%. Negative consequences of armed conflicts also include social pathologies (e.g. drug addiction or increasing tendency to aggression), participation of children in armed conflicts (so‑called child soldiers), uncontrolled migrations, excessive armament, destruction, economic recession or attempts to manufacture weapons of mass destruction. One of the most dramatic consequences of armed conflicts is the growing wave of refugees. An increasing number of people are fleeing to Europe seeking protection from bloody wars, poverty and hunger. It causes numerous problems and fears. International law guarantees basic assistance to refugees, for example they must not be expelled to countries where they are in danger.

Social, political and economic effects of armed conflicts

For centuries, war has been an internationally accepted way of settling disputes between states. Only in the 20th century did the states ban the use of force in international relations. They have also established international organizations that are responsible for maintaining international peace and security. These actions, however, did not prevent all wars, or even the wars of a global nature. Differences in interests, territorial disputes, the struggle for domination in the region, the struggle for resources or ethnic problems are just some of the causes of the ongoing conflicts. However, there is still hope, that in the future states instead of waging war, will increasingly undertake peaceful methods of resolving disputes, such as negotiations or international courts.