I. Food and geopolitics

Chapter:

1. Introduction: International stability and human security in 2022

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2023

Author(s):

Dan Smith

The broader significance of the war in Ukraine does not lie in its scale. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and injured on both sides and millions of Ukrainians were forced to flee their homes. But the most deadly of recent wars is almost certainly that in the Tigray province of Ethiopia, which started in November 2020; there, estimates of civilian deaths alone over the two years range from 300 000 to 600 000, significantly more than the uncertain numbers thought to have perished in Ukraine during 2022 (see below).⁸ Nor does the Ukraine war’s significance lie in a common perception in Europe that it signifies war returning to the continent. In fact, there have been armed conflicts and wars in Europe in every decade since the 1960s, though only in the Western Balkans and North Caucasus has the violence been at the level seen in Ukraine in 2022.