New Wars: A Methodological Proposal for their Analysis

Abstract

There are many conflicts today with different and unique characteristics hardly categorized as traditional conventional wars or armed conflicts. Considering the varied denominations that can be found, mainly after the end of the Cold War, as opposed to conventional wars, it was "new wars" the name which had a better reception. However, like many other denominations, we believe that we cannot fully accept it as a practical tool for the study of all types of conflicts in the world. Therefore, this article, by reviewing the most important books and articles on this question, aims to provide a theoretical and methodological tool, making operational the identifying variables of the "new wars". Thus contemporary conflicts can be studied in detail in order to make comparisons that shed light on the similarities and differences.