Intrastate Warfare

Abstract

On October 15th, 2020, the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies (CASIS) Vancouver hosted its sixth Digital Roundtable event of the year, Intrastate Warfare. The presentation was conducted by guest speaker Dr. Arjun Chowdhury, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia.

Dr. Chowdhury’s presentation delivered a historical overview of types of conflicts and a brief analysis on the patterns of conflicts and whether they have changed over a period of approximately 200 years, with a particular focus on the last 50 years. He described two types of war, interstate and intrastate, mentioning trends in intrastate war and the contrast to interstate war, as well as the consequences to life expectancy and infrastructure in the regions affected by intrastate wars. Subsequently, Dr. Chowdhury answered questions submitted by the attendees, which elaborated on the concepts of interstate and intrastate wars, using current examples such as, COVID-19, right-wing extremism, cybercrimes, and foreign aid.