Afanasiev, V.V. Modern local conflicts.

Abstract: The article concerns specific features of the modern local conflicts, which are less and less alike to the traditional wars among the states. One of the causes of modern local conflicts may be found in cheaper prices for weapons and “privatization”, when the main participants are private firms or people’s militia. In the latest decades the wars started changing their traditional forms. The classical model of war of national states, which was a defining one in the XX century, becomes historically outdated. The states lost their monopoly for waging war, and many nonstate actors came into this field, including local chiefs, partisan groups or private firms, specializing in waging war and renting soldiers, or even performing military operations. International terrorist networks capable of mobilizing a large number of their followers also start playing an important role. Many of these new actors have war as their main business on a permanent basis.

Keywords: