I have to write a paper for my political science class (War and Peace). The point of the paper is to explain the war and which paradigm best explains the conflict (realism, liberalism, constructivism or Marxism).
A conflict that occurred in the last 200 years (so, 1812-2013)
It cannot be a conflict that directly involved/involves the United States as a combatant;
The conflict must be between two or more recognized countries.
I tried googling and I did not find anything. Maybe I am not searching the right words. Can anyone recommend me an interesting war? Thank you.
There are literally hundreds of wars the United States wasn't involved in during that period. This is one of the few instances Wikipedia would be a good place to start as they have a [massive list of wars] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Lists_of_wars_by_date), including participants. Find a few that don't have the USA listed as a participant, open them, and select whichever seems most interesting.
I won't suggest one to you, as I suspect researching a few on your own and choosing just one is probably half the point of the assignment.
The Crimean war could be a good starting point, analysing how the fallout from the Napoleonic era effected the allegiance formed here.
The Franco-Thai War, from 1940 to 1941, which was fought between two Axis-aligned powers, the Vichy French administration of Indochina, and Thailand under Field Marshall Plaek Phibun Songkhram. A good source on this would be "Field Marshal Plaek Phibun Songkhram", by B.J. Terwiel. Phibun (as he's called for short) was a real character, and it'd be worth your time to read about him.
Maybe the Greco-Italian war, 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941
The Falklands war, the French-Algerian war, and the Boer war come to mind
Falklands War I remember in my lifetime.
The Winter War between Russia and Finland is a fun one.
I'm partial to the Austro-Prussian War since it was the first post-Napoleonic war in Europe that deviated from the Napoleonic style of warfare. It also had widespread implications for history that can still be seen today.
To name two that didn't take place in the Western world, there was the First and Second Congo Wars.