intentionally or by accident
According to Michael Brzoska, “All major definitions of war . . . have three common core
elements: there needs to be fighting; such fighting is conducted by organized groups; and at
least one of the parties has to be the government.” By such a definition, there were more than
110 million people killed in more than 250 wars during the twentieth century alone. It is almost
a measure of the modernity of war how large a fraction of war-related deaths are made up of
civilians. In World War I, only about five percent of those killed were civilians; in World War II, it
was close to 50 percent. In wars fought in the 1960s, it is estimated that civilians accounted for
more than 60 percent of war dead; in those fought in the 1980s, the estimate is nearly 75
percent.
Militarization and War as Impediments to Development
Destruction and Disruption. Wars interfere directly with economic development by destroying
productive economic resources, both capital and labor, especially within the territory of the
nations where they are fought. Wars can also make it difficult to carry on ordinary economic
activity in areas that are part of the war zone. Part of the reason for famine in conflict-plagued
areas, such as the Horn of Africa, is the disruption of agricultural activities that results when
farmers are literally afraid to go out into the fields because of the possibility that they will be
injured or killed, intentionally or by accident, by one or another of the armed combatants.
Resource Diversion. In the midst of war, production or acquisition of the supplies needed to
sustain the war effort, whether they are specialized to military use (such as weapons and
ammunition) or more generally useful (such as food and fuel), is usually given higher priority
than provision of ordinary goods and services for the civilian population. In less developed
countries, where the quantity and quality of consumer goods and services and the capital
needed to produce them are less than abundant, this pre-emption of provisions is particularly
problematic. Often enough, it is not just the government that takes these provisions through
ordinary means, but also rebel forces and other armed gangs that forcefully expropriate what