The most brutal example of racial and ethnic conflict hindering democracy in africa came at the same time that south africa was ending apartheid. For example, gurr 1993 identifies about 80 raging ethnic conflicts, of which about 35 could be classified as or close to civil wars in different parts of the world. They were nothing more than a miniature wwi i am not saying that they were a world war of course restr. The main thesis of the book is that ethnic political mobilization is essentially a function of deeplyfelt grievances on the part of the groups so mobilized. May 18, 2008 tweetrecent intercommunal conflicts in chad, cote divoire, dr congo, kenya, liberia, nigeria, rwanda, sierra leone, somalia, sudan and zimbabwe bring to mind the role of a certain ethnocentrism or tribalism in conflicts in subsaharan africa. At other times ethnicity was presented in regional or geographic terms. Structure and strategy in ethnic conflict donald l. The causes of ethnic conflicts byu scholarsarchive.
To manage her complex ethnic problem, nigeria, like south africa, has developed mechanisms for ethnic conflict management. The nature of ethnic conflict in africa, insurgence and relative. This restructuring process brought out cultural tensions, causing deep ethnic conflict that continues today. From the conflict between the southern igbo and the northern hausa in the biafra war, to the ethnic cleansings in darfur and rwanda, africa has suffered tremendously as a result of ethnic discord. Ethnic conflict project south africa by charlee anderson. But even when there is coverage of conflicts in africa, the death toll has little to do with the levels of coverage. The makua people are the largest ethnic group with over four million people, and occupy mostly the. Before tackling conflicts in africa one should first consider conflict in general. That is, the ethnic homelands that have more slaves exported in the colonial period are more prone to conflict in the present. At still other points, ethnicity was manifested in localcommunal traditional, political or kin termsall possible. The continent includes the islands of cape verde, madagascar, mauritius, seychelles, and comoros. That ethnic conflict is now a pervasive and salient dimension of political and social conflict in several countries in the world seems obvious enough.
It is divided in half almost equally by the equator. Cultural conflicts and religious conflicts concurrently i. Uncertainty, each ethnic conflict has its own unique characteristics and, in different contexts, some of these elements will be more prominent than the others, but all of them are the common denominators necessary for ethnic conflict to occur. Ethnic conflict and sustainable development in nigeria.
Conflicts and causes of conflicts in africa project topics. Ethnicity and religion as sources of political division in africa. Most of the wars waged in the horn of africa during the past 30 years have been described in terms of ethnic conflict, both by the adversaries themselves and by external analysts. Our model applies equally well to groups that form based on the geographical base of their membership. When groups can be formed along ethnic lines, ethnic identity can be used as a marker to recognize potential inltrators. This inquiry will look at ethnic conflicts and possible causes within. With regard to conflict, the aprm has stated as one of its objectives the prevention and reduction of inter and intrastate conflict. Misinterpreting ethnic conflicts in africa africa center. The latitude for discrimination against blacks is increased by the mix of racial. South africa and conflict resolution in africa 27 that made the negotiated settlement possible do not exist elsewhere shillinger 2009, solomon 2010. Constitutionally, nigeria opted for federalism and secularism to manage ethnic and regional misunderstanding like south africa, a bill of rights was included in the 1999 constitution, which was intended to allay the fears. Ethnicity, ethnic conflict, peace education, social justice, sustainable development 1. Ethnic conflict is defined as any episode of sustained violent conflict in which national, ethnic, and religious or other communal minorities challenge governments to seek major changes in status bates et.
What made the negotiations in south africa to succeed was, among other things, the continuous existence of a strong state. African wars and ethnic conflicts human development. What research is that where you found the history of ethnic conflict in south africa. Regional variations in three principal conflict trends are then presented for. Uganda ethnic groups ugandans can be classified into several broad linguistic groups. Ethnic groups are, to be sure, inventions and constructions in some measure, but they are also decidedly real, even in the sense that states are said to be. According to a fourth perspective on the salience of ethnicity and religion in africa, their relative divisiveness changes by dint of the group size.
Jul, 2018 what research is that where you found the history of ethnic conflict in south africa. The variable measures simply if there is an ethnic conflict in a given state or not. Ethnicity, ethnic conflict, peace education, social justice. The misdiagnosis of african conflicts as ethnic ignores the. Jerry muller us and them, marchapril 2008 tells a disconcerting story about the potential for ethnic diversity to generate violent conflict. Before the colonial era, some parts of africa had what may be described as ethnic polities political societies with governmental institutions in. However, the sources of this diversity remain unexplained, which is surprising in light of africas high level of ethnic. Darfur made a rare appearance on the radar of western concern in 2004 at a time when the known death toll from conflict there was still 80 times smaller than that in the drc. Apr 30, 2010 while the ethnic group is the predominant means of social identity formation in africa, most ethnic groups in africa coexist peacefully with high degrees of mixing through interethnic marriage, economic partnerships, and shared values. These conflicts are the focus of two useful collections, one primarily descriptive, the other organized around the prescriptive theme of institutional. Africa, most ethnic groups in africa coexist peacefully with high degrees of mixing through interethnic marriage, economic partnerships, and shared values.
Ethnic conflict project south africa by charlee anderson on. Project muse the roots of ethnic conflict in africa. Nationalism and ethnic identification in africa nationalism, as a subject of study, is generally defined in one of two ways. Armed conflict location events data acled, containing information on the location and type of conflict events and the involved actors.
The causes of ethnic conflict in multiethnic societies. It offers a compelling case for the use of both political incentives power sharing, elections, and fiscal programs and a variety of actions including principles of. Indeed, if they did not, nearly every village and province in africa would be a cauldron of conflict. In rwanda, the genocide that took place because of enmity between hutus and tutsis has become our contemporary example of. For more on the effects of high concentration of ethnic groups in locations and the role of geography and organization in motivating conflict, see. Horowitz decades after the recognition that ethnicity is a powerful force in the politics of many countries, with profound effects on prospects for democracy horowitz 1993. And the majority of those people are located on the african continent which, no matter what form of.
In africa, islam and christianity grew with colonialism. But in much of the rest of the continent we have weak. Ethnic characteristics are a universal and ubiquitous feature of humanity. Marshall 2005 page 2 of 28 numbers of countries experiencing any magnitude event of each of three general types of armed conflict, as well as the annual number of countries experiencing any type or magnitude of armed conflict, for further reference. Postapartheid south africa, however, remains poised between a racially, ethnically, and tribally blind democratic system and a proud ethnic selfassertiveness, represented and exploited by zulu. Recent intercommunal conflicts in chad, cote divoire, dr congo, kenya, liberia, nigeria, rwanda, sierra leone, somalia, sudan and zimbabwe bring to mind the role of a certain ethnocentrism or tribalism in conflicts in subsaharan africa. African social work educators have consistently argued that conventional social. There has been a popular misconception that africas numerous wars and conflicts are caused by ethnicity. Nasongos preface sets the stage for the roots of ethnic conflict in africa.
Conflict and state security in the horn of africa 41 that determine relationships. Chapter 8 weak states and ethnic conflict 211 the one notable case in africa of a recent successful secession was eritreas independence from ethiopia in 1993. This book focuses on the problem of ethnic conflict in africa and seeks to explain its root causes. The legacy of historical conflict evidence from africa. Furthermore, most of the literature agrees on the operationalization of ethnic conflict into a simple dichotomous variable. Colonial production, extraverted and coercive as it already was, was ruthlessly reorganized to produce record amounts of primary agricultural and mineral commodities for the imperial armies and economies. This study presents a conceptual framework for understanding the conflict in one of the most dangerous regions of the world the caucasus. There are approximately 45,000 europeans, and 15,000 south asians, constituting less than 2% of the population, as well. While the ethnic group is the predominant means of social identity formation in africa, most ethnic groups in africa coexist peacefully with high degrees of mixing through interethnic marriage, economic partnerships, and shared values.
Conflict can be defined as a clash or disagreement often violent between opposing groups or individuals. It can also be said to be an incompatibility, as of two things that cannot be simultaneously fulfilled. Christianity was spread through the work of european missionaries, while islam consolidated its power in certain undisturbed regions and urban centers. By proposing a typology of armed conflict, the study seeks to achieve analytical clarity and contribute to conflict analysis. Ethnicity and ethnic conflict violence in twentieth. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the author. A large part of the explanation for this lies in the collapse two years earlier of the soviet union, which had secured ethiopia as a military and political ally beginning in 1977. When one groups army enters a city in enemy territory, its soldiers can be pretty condent that the overwhelming. Regime change and ethnic cleavages in africa daniel n. He argues that ethnic nationalism which stems from a deeply felt need for each people to have its own state will continue to shape the world in the twentyfirst century. Posner sometimes ethnic solidarity was expressed in cultural and linguistic terms.
The impact of slave trade on current civil conflict in sub. The first and second sudan civil wars have been characterized as conflicts between the arabized northerners and african southerners, with cleavages along religious. Current conflicts in africa 2020 and examples information. It is how they are accommodated in the state and the. Ethnicity and religion as sources of political division in africa john f. From grievance to violence, an edited volume, which has three illustrations. A short critical discussion rama venkatasawmy statistics show that onethird of the population in the south is incomepoor and onequarter is poor in terms of the undps human development index pearce 2000. By lowering the cost of enforcing membership in the winning group, ethnic diversity makes the latter less susceptible to expost inltration by members of the losing one. The preface provides a general overview of the ideas on which the book rests.
The main ethnic groups in mozambique are the makua, tsonga, makonde, shangaan, shona, sena, ndau, and other indigenous groups. In the first, nationalism is defined as the doctrine that state and cultural boundaries should be congruent. The biafra war, also known as the nigerian civil war, is an educative example when studying african ethnic conflict. The basis of understanding conflict, security and collective wellbeing of people includes relationships that dominate interactions of two or more entities in contact with one another. Africas physical geography, environment and resource s, and. Indeed, many conflict scholars find the ethnic distinction baseless. This paper attempts to demonstrate that this idea is mistaken.
Such conflicts have existed all over the world for centuries, but in the last 20 years, after the fall of communism, they are in the focus of public attention due to the war in rwanda, the events in eastern europe, and the. Competing theories of ethnic conflict in the caucasus abstract. The causes of ethnic conflict in multi ethnic societies1 hossien mohammadzadeh assistant professor of sociology, department of social science, payame noor university, tehran, iran email address. Although the vast majority of africans live in peace with their neighbors, life has been nasty, brutish, and short for millions of others who live in illfated parts of the continent where hobbesian civil wars have recently raged. Ethnicity and religion as sources of political division in. African wars and ethnic conflicts human development reports. The mfecanedifaqane wars were not ethnic conflicts. Managing ethnic conflict in africa demonstrates how negotiation and mediation can promote conflict resolution and a political environment that fosters economic development. Working paper series explaining african ethnic diversity lse. Ethnicity and ethnic conflict violence in twentieth century. Localities, states, and sometimes whole regions have been engulfed in convulsive fits of. Based on a qualitative analysis of conflict in africa, this paper has identified broad types of conflict in order to understand better the conflict dynamics, causes and drivers on the continent. Nov 21, 2016 for more on the effects of high concentration of ethnic groups in locations and the role of geography and organization in motivating conflict, see.
1243 632 1206 108 94 1500 1026 1323 535 1166 1338 1081 228 745 848 1193 357 61 142 1490 280 306 836 1040 175 820 534 180 1371 53 848 1225 1441