Does El Niño cause civil wars?

Researchers believe there's a strong link between armed conflict and the occurrence of El Niño weather patterns

An Indonesian villager walks through a dried-up field affected by a 2009 El Nino weather system: Researchers say El Nino may drive poor countries into civil strife.
(Image credit: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

In the run-up to a civil war, a number of factors — political instability, economic policy, and racial or ethnic differences — can play an important role in triggering the violence. Add one more potential contributor to that list: El Niño, and the drastic weather changes that come with it, according to a new study published in Nature. Here, a guide to this research:

What is El Niño?

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