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Education

Causes and Costs of Conflict Lesson Plan

Length
One 60-minute class period
Grade Level
High School

Learning Objectives

  • Students will identify the underlying causes of conflict, analyze patterns across active global conflicts, and evaluate the human costs of war on civilian populations.

Instructional Plan

  1. (Introduction: 10 minutes) - Open the class by posing the following prompt to students: “Take 60 seconds to write down every conflict you’ve heard of before. Then, take 90 seconds to write down every reason you can think of for why these conflicts began.” Have students record their answers in a notebook or on a blank piece of paper.
    • Collect students’ reasons for conflict on the board (i.e. territory, resources, power, identity, religion, etc.), and have students copy the list down on paper for themselves. When the working list is complete, ask students: “Imagine the active conflicts happening in the world right now. Do you think any of the underlying causes we’ve written down are more common in today’s world than others? If so, which ones?” Let students make quick predictions, then explain to students that today’s class will test those predictions through a detailed look at conflict, its causes, and its human costs.
  2. (Video: 10 min) - Have students watch CFR Education’s “How is Conflict Changing” video (linked below). As students watch, have them draw a checkmark next to causes the video confirms, an arrow next to causes the video reframes, and a question mark next to causes the video doesn’t address. Debrief the video with a quick discussion of the following questions:
    • “What causes did the video confirm from our list?”
    • “What causes did the video add that we didn’t think of?”
    • “The video says wars between countries have declined but wars within countries have increased. Does that surprise you? What does that fact tell us about the drivers of conflict in today’s world?”
  3. (Independent Global Conflict Tracker Exploration: 15 minutes) - Have students access the CFR Global Conflict Tracker on their devices. Orient students briefly to the filtering tools, search bar, and ways to click into the different conflict profiles.
    • Then, students should work in pairs to explore at least five conflicts from different regions. As they explore, students should fill out a three column chart in their notebooks. Column one should explain: Who are the main actors/combatants in this conflict? Column two should answer: What is the driving force in this conflict? Column three can include any other observations students make about the conflicts they explore.
    • After 10 minutes of exploration, facilitate a class-wide share-out that responds to the following question: “What patterns do you notice? What common causes appear across conflicts?”
  4. (Independent Reading: 15 minutes) - Explain to students that the tracker shows conflict through a macro lens of type, status, and impact on U.S. national interests, but that this data only encapsulates some of the reality of a conflict. Have students read CFR Education’s “The Civilian Consequences of Conflict” reading with the following question in mind: “What does the Global Conflict Tracker leave out? What parts of the human experience aren’t revealed when you look at a dot on a map?”
  5. (Full-Class Discussion: 10 minutes) - (Full-Class Discussion: 10 minutes) - Reiterate to students that the Global Conflict Tracker is a powerful tool, but that the data it presents does not necessarily tell the full story behind each conflict. Now that students have completed the civilian-focused reading, use any of the following discussion prompts to conclude the session with a full-class discussion on the causes and costs of conflict.
    • “The reading says that between 1990 and 2000, civilians accounted for 90 percent of war-related deaths. But the video focused on soldiers, deterrence, and state power. What does that gap tell us about how we tend to think about conflict?“
    • “The tracker rates conflicts by impact on U.S. interests. The civilian consequences reading focuses on impact on civilians. Are those the same thing? If they’re not, whose experience should we be centering when we decide which conflicts deserve attention? Why?”
    • “The reading ends by saying that in today’s interconnected world, conflict rarely stays local. After today’s lesson, can you think of a way that a conflict somewhere else in the world might affect your own life, even indirectly?”

Instructor Notes

  • As an optional follow-up, have students respond to either of the following questions as homework before the next class session.
    • “The tracker measures conflict by its impact on U.S. interests. The reading measures it by its impact on civilians. Write a short argument for which framing you think is more useful and what each one gets wrong.“
    • “Choose one conflict from the tracker. Based on what the civilian consequences reading describes, write 4–5 sentences from the perspective of a civilian living through that conflict. What does the dot on the tracker not show?”

Materials