Article. Journal "Problems of Local Self-Government" . — No4 (16). This article attempts to briefly outline our knowledge about the nature and causes of internal armed conflicts. The theoretical basis of this knowledge is limited, but extremely important.. It is limited in the sense that it does not offer any generalized explanation of the concept of internal conflict, but with the extreme complexity and ambiguity of the phenomenon itself, this is unlikely to cause surprise. On the other hand, the theory is important because it can tell us where to look for signs of escalating violence, as well as ways to prevent this escalation. However, in this article the main thing is not the theory, but the methodology of studying and analyzing the internal armed conflict.