Fear In Civil War By Barbara Walter

Violence against innocents is something no sane person wants to inflict. Yet, in cases of civil war and genocide, sane people become the very same insane person that they vilify. Sarajevo, a gleaming city seen as a model to the rest of former European communist countries, was being torn apart during the middle of the 20th century by the very people that made it the model city it was. The people of Rwanda, tired after years of violence and war, turns back from their signed peace agreement and starts a genocide killing over 800,000 people. Fear drove these people to start to attack and destroy their innocent neighbors and for their neighbors to reciprocate out of fear as well. This fear is caused by a number of things, including economic disparity and uncertainty, cultural history, and manipulation of all of these things by the people who lead them. …show more content…
Barbara Walter in her Introduction to her book she cowrote states that fear is a major factor in civil war and the choices the parties in war may make. “Security fears might play a far greater role in certain situations than policy makers or social scientists have thus far recognized” (Walter 3). These “security fears” that Walter cites in her introduction she later cites as having various situations that provoke these fears to come about, including “(1) the government breaks down or collapses, (2) a minority group becomes geographically isolated within a larger ethni community, (3) the political balance of power shifts from one group to another, (4) economic resources rapidly change hands, or (5) groups are asked to demobilize partisan armies” (Walter 4). These situations bring about uncertainty to the country involved, which instills fear into the hearts of its citizens and results in what is called a security