‘GIVE WAR A CHANCE’: ALL OUT WAR AS A MEANS TO ENDING CONFLICT : Comparing Sri Lanka and Colombia

This paper investigates the emergence of a military approach as a means to solving protracted civil conflicts in the particular cases of Sri Lanka and Colombia. The article attempts a comparative study of the military alternatives emerging as an end to civil war in both countries. The approach adopted is to study the emergence of these military options within the context of each country’s history and to assess whether the call for war was merely a consequence of the war on terror, or driven by internal elements. The paper explores the epistemological groundings and pitfalls of the all-out war theory informing this approach, before reassessing the significance and validity of the theory in relation to Sri Lanka and Colombia. Finally, the liberal peace framework is used to approach an understanding of how development is being conceptualized through the practice of the all-out war theory in these two countries. In order to do so, this document performs a comparative analysis, as well as an historical study of the evolution of both conflicts, incorporating elements of discourse analysis. The document also explores the notion of ‘‘Tillian’’ wars from an agent based perspective, not only to establish the logic and validity of these approaches, but also as a means to understanding possible solutions to protracted and intractable wars.