Editing Civil war (section)

== Formal classification ==
[[File:Battle of Gettysburg.jpg|thumb|Aftermath of the [[Battle of Gettysburg]], [[American Civil War]], 1863]]
[[James Fearon]], a scholar of civil wars at [[Stanford University]], defines a civil war as "a violent conflict within a country fought by organized groups that aim to take power at the center or in a region, or to change government policies".<ref name=fearon /> Ann Hironaka further specifies that one side of a civil war is the [[state (polity)|state]].<ref name=hironaka3 /> [[Stathis Kalyvas]] defines civil war as "armed combat taking place within the boundaries of a recognized sovereign entity between parties that are subject to a common authority at the outset of the hostilities."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kalyvas|first=Stathis N.|editor1-first=Carles|editor1-last=Boix|editor2-first=Susan C|editor2-last=Stokes|date=2009|title=Civil Wars|url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199566020.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199566020-e-18|url-status=live|website=The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics|pages=416–434 |language=en|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199566020.003.0018|isbn=978-0199566020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121231170117/http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com:80/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199566020.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199566020-e-18 |archive-date=2012-12-31 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Kalyvas|first=Stathis N.|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/logic-of-violence-in-civil-war/3DFE74EA492295FC6940D58CA8EF4D5C|title=The Logic of Violence in Civil War|date=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-85409-2|pages=5|doi=10.1017/cbo9780511818462|s2cid=14897960|access-date=2021-11-09|archive-date=2021-11-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109141712/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/logic-of-violence-in-civil-war/3DFE74EA492295FC6940D58CA8EF4D5C|url-status=live}}</ref> The intensity at which a civil disturbance becomes a civil war is contested by academics. Some political scientists define a civil war as having more than 1,000 casualties,<ref name=fearon /> while others further specify that at least 100 must come from each side.<ref>Edward Wong, [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/world/middleeast/26war.html?_r=1&oref=slogin "A Matter of Definition: What Makes a Civil War, and Who Declares It So?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210523094801/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/world/middleeast/26war.html?_r=1&oref=slogin |date=2021-05-23 }} ''New York Times''. November 26, 2006</ref> The [[Correlates of War]], a dataset widely used by scholars of conflict, classifies civil wars as having over 1,000 war-related casualties per year of conflict. This rate is a small fraction of the millions killed in the [[Second Sudanese Civil War]] and [[Cambodian Civil War]], for example, but excludes several highly publicized conflicts, such as [[The Troubles]] of [[Northern Ireland]] and the struggle of the [[African National Congress]] in [[History of South Africa in the Apartheid era|Apartheid-era South Africa]].<ref name=hironaka3 />

[[File:T-55 Ethiopian Civil War 1991.JPEG|thumb|Tanks in the streets of [[Addis Ababa]] after rebels [[Fall of the Derg|seized]] the capital during the [[Ethiopian Civil War]] (1991)]]
Based on the 1,000-casualties-per-year criterion, there were 213 civil wars from 1816 to 1997, 104 of which occurred from 1944 to 1997.<ref name=hironaka3 /> If one uses the less-stringent 1,000 casualties total criterion, there were over 90 civil wars between 1945 and 2007, with 20 ongoing civil wars as of 2007.{{clarify|date=October 2017|The number is lower with a less-stringent def? 104 wars for 1944–47 using 1,000 per year, but only 90 wars for 1945–2007 using merely 1000 total?}}<ref name=fearon />

The [[Geneva Conventions]] do not specifically define the term "civil war"; nevertheless, they do outline the responsibilities of parties in "armed conflict not of an international character". This includes civil wars; however, no specific definition of civil war is provided in the text of the Conventions.

Nevertheless, the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] has sought to provide some clarification through its commentaries on the [[Geneva Conventions]], noting that the Conventions are "so general, so vague, that many of the delegations feared that it might be taken to cover any act committed by force of arms". Accordingly, the commentaries provide for different 'conditions' on which the application of the Geneva Convention would depend; the commentary, however, points out that these should not be interpreted as rigid conditions. The conditions listed by the [[ICRC]] in its commentary are as follows:<ref>Final Record of the [[Fourth Geneva Convention|Diplomatic Conference of Geneva of 1949]], (Volume II-B, p. 121)</ref><ref>See also the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] [http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/COM/375-590006?OpenDocument commentary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322083725/https://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/com/375-590006?opendocument |date=2016-03-22 }} on Third 1949 Geneva Convention, Article III, Section "A. Cases of armed conflict" for the ICRC's reading of the definition and a listing of proposed alternative wording</ref>

#That the Party in revolt against the de jure Government possesses an organized military force, an authority responsible for its acts, acting within a determinate territory and having the means of respecting and ensuring respect for the Convention.
#That the legal Government is obliged to have recourse to the regular military forces against insurgents organized as military and in possession of a part of the national territory.
#
#:(a) That the de jure Government has recognized the insurgents as belligerents; 
#:(b) That it has claimed for itself the rights of a belligerent; or
#:(c) That it has accorded the insurgents recognition as belligerents for the purposes only of the present Convention; or
#:(d) That the dispute has been admitted to the agenda of the Security Council or the General Assembly of the United Nations as being a threat to international peace, a breach of the peace, or an act of aggression.
#
#:(a) That the insurgents have an organization purporting to have the characteristics of a State.
#:(b) That the insurgent civil authority exercises de facto authority over the population within a determinate portion of the national territory.
#:(c) That the armed forces act under the direction of an organized authority and are prepared to observe the ordinary laws of war.
#:(d) That the insurgent civil authority agrees to be bound by the provisions of the Convention.