2014 the most violent since the Cold War – forskning.se

2014 recorded the highest number of casualties since the Cold War. This can be attributed to the bloody war in Syria and increased violence in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Nigeria.

This is described by peace researchers at Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) in an article now published in the leading international journal Journal of Peace Research .In 2014 were 40 conflicts that caused at least 25 battle-related deaths active. The number of active armed conflicts first declined sharply after the Cold War, but the last ten years show an uneven but clear upward trend. The internationalized conflicts has increased significantly. There are conflicts in which other States sends in troops to support the warring parties.

– We must remember that year with the least number of conflicts since the Cold War also found during this decade, points out Therese Pettersson, project manager in the UCDP. This shows the wide variation which exists in the statistics and how hard it is to say something about the long term trend.

While the conflicts are defined as war, ie, those causing at least 1,000 deaths in a year, has increased from six 2013-11 during 2014. This is the largest relative increase in the number of wars since the early 1960s. The increase in the number of wars has also meant a sharp increase in the number of battle-related deaths, due largely to developments in Syria. 2014 recorded the highest number of casualties since the Cold War.

– In addition to Syria, we also see the escalating violence in many other conflicts, such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria and the Ukraine, says Therese Pettersson. Even if we ignore Syria, the number of battle-related deaths is the highest in 15 years.

A positive development is that 10 peace agreement was signed in 2014, an increase of six agreements in 2013.

– For example, we have seen a historic agreement signed in the protracted conflict in the Philippines, says Peter Wall Steen, director of the research program. Unfortunately, many negotiation attempts in the most bloody conflicts collapsed. One explanation is the differences between the West and Russia, which primarily affects the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine.