The study sought to illuminate the causes underlying the puzzling observation in ethnically diverse African countries - including Ivory Coast, Sudan and Nigeria - that violent conflict emerges along ethnic lines and then transforms into religious conflicts. and You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches". 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Liga, Marina While religious armed conflicts have been increasing in sub-Saharan Africa, effects of religious discrimination have rarely been investigated. Africa is host to the highest number of religious countries in the world, according to a recent Gallop poll. Religion, ethnicity and civil war in Africa: The cases of Uganda and African Traditional Religion (ATR) seems to be less connected to organised violence this faith is sometimes apparently linked to unorganised forms such as ritual murder and witch killings. View your signed in personal account and access account management features. Your comment will be reviewed and published at the journal's discretion. ", Such a divergence ofviews, however, isalso exactlyin the spirit of Sen, whose theory on developmentrests on thevaluethat people "must be allowed freelywhat traditions theywish or not wish to follow.". In another survey (Poushter 2015), more than 60 per cent of the respondents in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Senegal rejected IS. According to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP), armed conflict is an organised form of violence between the state and a non-state rebel group or militia that leads to violence with at least 25 battle-related deaths in one year. ON THE ECONOMIC MOTIVATION FOR CONFLICT IN AFRICA Tony Addison (a)Philippe Le Billon (b)S. Mansoob Murshed (a), (c) * World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) of the UnitedNations University, Katajanokanlaituri 6B, FIN-00160, Helsinki, Finland Overseas Development Institute, London Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. These trends largely conform to global developments. Overall, this book presents the fruit of an innovative research design with which McCauley develops what I firmly believe is a sound theoretical model for examining and understanding a complex mechanism of social mobilization; namely, how political elites manipulate the general population. Haggai Erlich, in Islam & Christianity in the Horn of Africa, provides a clear portrayal of the complexities of Muslim-Christian relations in this region. In contrast, theological conflicts were virtually absent until the mid 1980s but have steadily grown since. Riedl, Rachel Beatty Svensson, Isak (2007), Fighting with Faith: Religion and Conflict Resolution in Civil Wars, in: Journal of Conflict Resolution, 51, 6, 930949. This data will be updated every 24 hours. One may even assert that the major current that runs through Africa: from North to South, East to West and Central is conflict and wars. The Puzzling Case of Islam and Civil War, Ethnicity and Political Crisis in Cte dIvoire, Immigration en Cte dIviore: La Notion de Seuil Tolrable Relve de la Xnophobie, Oil, British Interests, and the Nigerian Civil War, Being Igbo and Muslim: The Igbo of Southeastern Nigeria and Conversions to Islam, 1930s to Recent Times, Surviving in Biafra: The Story of the Nigerian Civil War, What Kind of Law Making in a Global World? Interstate wars frequently had and have significant religious aspects, and inter-religious cooperation was an important part of building stable institutions within these societies. Religion has played a better role as far as the development of Africa is concerned.". Major findings of the study reveal that the causes ofreligious conflicts in Nigeria include failure to move with change, conflicting doctrines, methodsof conversion, utterances of religious leaders, and clothing of political objectives with religion,among others. Each of the more than 50 modern . In instances where economic growth will help, the European Union and the United States should reduce subsidies to their own farmers in order to boost the agricultural sector in African economies. The major causes of such armed ethnic conflicts in Africa continue to baffle both scholars and policymakers. A Development Approach, United Nations Development Programme, Regional and Multi-Country Project Document, Washington (14 July 2017). Renewalist Christianity and the Political Saliency of LGBTs: Theory and Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa. The Logic of Ethnic and Religious Conflict in Africa, Select The Logic of Ethnic and Religious Conflict in Africa, Select The Logic of Ethnic and Religious Conflict in Africa - Title page, Select 2 - A Theory of Mobilizational Differences in Identity Types, Select 3 - Evidence from Cte dIvoire and Ghana, Select 5 - A Theory of Identities, Political Choice, and Conflict, Select 6 - Ethnic and Religious Identity in Cte dIvoires Conflict, Select 7 - Ethnicity and Religion in Sudans Civil Wars, Select 8 - Ethnicity and Religion in Nigerias Biafran War, Select Appendix A - Observational Analyses of Afrobarometer Data in Chapter 3, Issues and Recent Trends in International Migration in Sub-Saharan Africa, Boko Haram: One Sect, Conflicting Narratives, The Missions, the State, and Education in South-Eastern Nigeria, 19561971. PDF CONFLICT IN AFRICA - The World Bank Pew Research Center (2013), The Worlds Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society, www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-overview/ (1 June 2017). Four editions cover politics, economics, and society in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, respectively. Conflict is a universal phenomenon that is inevitable in human interaction. These definitions are diverse and they all convey the single meaning of disagreement between the two or more religious groups. Sometimes observers fall into the trap of an either/or logic and fail to understand that both elements are necessary pillars of any coherent strategy designed to deal with violent extremism. In accordance with the research process, the book is divided into two main sections. Hoffmann, Lisa on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. 06/29/2021 African countries are seen as being both deeply religious and underdeveloped. 2.2 Religious Conflict Religious conflict is a term that has been variously defined by scholars. While there may be several underlying factors to conflict or violence that do not have religious roots, the resulting divisions could forever alter Christian . Hundreds of churches, mosques, hotels, and other related businesses as well as vehicles, private homes, and schools are destroyed. The GIGA Focus is edited and published by the GIGA. Supporting countries like Mali or Nigeria in their fight against religious extremists is necessary. In the first section, the author demonstrates both the results of qualitative field study conducted in Ivory Coast and Ghana, and findings obtained from the Afrobarometer Public Opinion Survey (measures identity attachment and policy preferences) administered to some 20,000 individuals. Some leaders in Africa are partially creating the environments in which religious violence develops. ATR percentage share show negative and significant results as well and, expressed in odds ratio, reduce the risk of armed conflict and religious armed conflict by 5% and 6%, respectively. The conflict in Ogaden, Ethiopia, is mainly interreligious, i.e. Indigeneship has also sparked deadly communal conflict in Kaduna State in northern Nigeria and the oil-rich southern Delta State. Rosenberg, Emma If you see Sign in through society site in the sign in pane within a journal: If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society. Any effort to counter religious armed conflicts and other faith-based violence must rest on a careful diagnosis of the problem. In Nigeria, for instance, the Interfaith Mediation Centre has been facilitating dialogue between Christians and Muslims (Interfaith Mediation Centre 2017). The regional hegemon has largely been unable to engage in regional crises in a meaningful way. ", Reverend Langehsupportsthe sameview,elaborating onhow religion can be abused to reach illegitimateand selfish ends: "Somebody will steal and give big donations in churches. In fact, Africa is a vast continent encompassing both geographic variation and tremendous cultural diversity. is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service. Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. The Boko Haram Uprising: How Should Nigeria Respond? Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. The Making of an Islamic Leader: Conversations with Hasan Al-Turabi, Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent, The Eagle in the Desert: Looking Back on U.S. Involvement in the Persian Gulf War, Informal Institutions and Comparative Politics: A Research Agenda, When Identity Becomes a Knife: Reflecting on the Genocide in Rwanda, Contemporary Social Psychological Theories, La Cte dIvoire: Plusieurs Lectures pour une Crise Annonce, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Sub-Saharan African and the Wider World of Islam: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, A Curse from God? Parallel ethnic- and religious-identity boundaries increase the risks of interreligious confrontation. The book broadens our understanding of African identity politics, showing us why in . To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video. PDF Religious Crises in Nigeria: Manifestation, Effect and The Aw Y Forardw There is also evidence that the original leader of (Sunni) Boko Haram found refuge from the Nigerian police in Saudi Arabia in 2005, while Iyad Ag Ghali, the founder of the Malian Islamist rebel group Ansar Dine, started his rebellion after experiencing a religious rebirth during his assignment as a Malian diplomat in Saudi Arabia. Upholding minorities' religious freedoms in predominantly Muslim countries can be a delicate matter when members of other religions are asked to follow Islamic customs. The number of people killed in clashes between Muslim herders and Christian farmers in Nigerias middle belt exceeds 10,000. The new US president has promised a fundamental change in American foreign policy. He was a religious leader who combined the issue of praying and development and his nonviolence was actually based on Hindu and Christian values," says Reverend Langeh. In Mali, Nigeria, and Somalia jihadist organisations have staged rebellions and managed to at least temporarily control large parts of the territory of these states. Although Islamists have been weakened in Mali and Nigeria in recent years and months, these conflicts have spilled over into neighbouring countries. If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institutions website, please contact your librarian or administrator. A South African imam has been trying for 20 years to change misconceptions about Islam. Conflicts Between African Traditional Religion and Christianity in Thank you for submitting a comment on this article. There are no comprehensive and exhausting studies, and analyses of the causes reflect more or less educated guessing (see, e.g., UNDP 2016). However, and even if it is only for the self-interest of all involved, African governments and societies can use and sometimes need support. Focusing on human freedoms contrasts with narrower views of development, such as identifying development with the growth of gross national product industrialization, or with technological advance, or with social modernization,"Sen suggests in his book "Development as Freedom.". Determinants and Effects of Institutional Choices in Divided Societies, The End of Apathy: The New Africa Policy under Joe Biden, Home Alone: South Africas Regional Predicament, Saudi Arabia Exporting Salafi Education and Radicalizing Indonesias Muslims, Kriegsursache oder Friedensressource? Or is the misrepresentation of faith a hindrance to greater development? 1. American Studies. The logic of ethnic and religious conflict in Africa - Oxford Academic Cynthia Banda in Malawi believes in miracles and has faith thatthe ultimate solution to all societal problems lies in the hand of God. Thus, Western governments should look to support countries with credible governments, like Ghana, and press other partners to practice good governance. First, policies need to address both the religious and non-religious causes. International efforts to battle extremists might also have adverse effects. ", So that is part of the statistics as well. Conventional development cooperation also has a role, and Western countries should be ready to make sacrifices in this respect. and The causes of these conflicts are not yet fully understood, though they appear to demonstrate a mixture of religious and secular roots. Back here in Africa, I want to vehemently say that religion has always helped in development," he said. ", "These bad leaders should be blamed for their actions and not religion.". However, this is a relative finding and does not hold true for interreligious conflicts which involve all kinds of faith. German Institute for Global and Area Studies | Leibniz-Institut fr Globale und Regionale Studien. The book broadens our understanding of African identity politics, showing us why in instances of violent conflict, parties remain the same, but the cause of the conflict transforms (ethnic to religious). Vllers, Johannes, Birte Pfeiffer, and Matthias Basedau (2015), Measuring the Ambivalence of the Sacred: Introducing the Religion and Conflict in Developing Countries (RCDC) Dataset, in: International Interactions, 41, 5, 857881. Philosophy. The basic source is UCDP that captures all armed conflicts until the end of 2016 (see Allansson, Melander, and Themnr 2017). RELIGIOUS CONFLICT AND ITS MANIFESTATIONS IN NIGERIA Before delving into the discussion of religious conflict in Nigeria, it will be useful to devote some space to introduce the country's religious communities that form the conflict parties. The consequences have been extreme: the violence has claimed thousands of lives and produced millions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees, and it continues to undermine the political, economic, and social development of the affected countries. Hasenclever, Andreas, and Jan Sndig (2014), Nigeria Gewaltursache Religion, in: Ines-Jacqueline Werkner, Janet Kursawe, Margret Johannsen et al. Ansorg, Nadine, and Sabine Kurtenbach (eds) (2017), Institutional Reforms and Peacebuilding: Change, Path-Dependency and Societal Divisions in Post-War Communities, Abingdon, New York: Routledge. We spoke to various people on the ground to gather their views on this uneasyrelationship. Abstract This study examined the patterns or mechanism for conflict resolution in traditional African societies with particular reference to Yoruba and Igbo societies in Nigeria and Pondo tribe in South Africa. Yes, religious orders played a role in setting up hospitals and schools and ending slavery, he said. This school of thought cannot rule out the fact that leaders are true believers and does not explain a range of behaviour for instance, religious extremists dehumanising those they attack as infidels and apostates or killing themselves in suicide bombings. The first debate concerns the role of religion and particular faiths. 5 Devastating Religious Conflicts in Africa That Will Make You Question Often, religious and ethnic differences run parallel in countries with diverse populations like the CAR and Nigeria. The conference participants also discussed more specific challenges but were unable to present a sound one-size-fits all programme. Can you really talk of development in Tanzania without talking about Julius Nyerere?" Nigeria's Pernicious Drivers of Ethno-Religious Conflict Image: Stringer/AFP/Getty Images Advertisement DW: In your study on the subject of religious conflicts in Africa,. Lead Research Fellow / Editor GIGA Focus Latin America, Director of the GIGA Institute for African Affairs / Editor GIGA Focus Africa. Gavrilova, Yulia 244 pp. Ibrahim Can Sezgin, The logic of ethnic and religious conflict in Africa, African Affairs, Volume 117, Issue 468, July 2018, Pages 540542, https://doi.org/10.1093/afraf/ady027. Hormby (2006) defines religious conflict as a situation in which religious adherents are involved in a serious . African countries are seen as being both deeply religious and underdeveloped. Religious Studies. For them, it is an armed conflict that (1) results in 1,000 or more deaths; (2) puts into dispute the sovereignty of an internationally recognised state; (3) takes place within that state's recognised frontiers; (4) engages the state as one of the main combatants; (5) involves rebel groups possessing the ability to mount an organised opposition;. Governments and civil society, especially religious leaders and faith-based organisations, must join forces to isolate hardcore extremists. Sometimes, outside support from religious extremists can add fuel to the fire and facilitate mobilisation, radicalisation, and gruesome violence. Sub-Saharan Africa: The devastating impact of conflicts compounded by Professional security forces including the military, police, and intelligence services are indispensable. Although there are various types of (religious) violence, here I concentrate on armed conflicts. In fact, they accounted for more than 40 per cent of armed conflicts in 2013 the last year of systematic observation in the data set. Presently, scholars hotly debate several potential causes of conflicts with a theological dimension (interreligious conflicts follow a somewhat different logic). Furthermore, by illuminating how social identity types produce unique sets of individual-level preferences and attitudes, the books novel perspective proves useful for distinguishing and analysing different forms of identity group competition (religious politics, ethnic politics and gender politics) with greater clarity than previously possible., Ibrahim Can Sezgin In the Central African Republic (CAR), a Muslim rebellion ousted a Christian-dominated government; the ensuing turmoil escalated into bloody confrontations between Muslim and Christian militias and left thousands of civilians dead. McClendon, Gwyneth Prediger, Sebastian Weak states both enable the activities of religious extremists and make their ideology a tempting alternative for the population. The . He highlights that underhanded deals, questionable government tenders and laundering of state funds might be regarded as "legitimate in our African societybut it is corruption in Islam and therefore unacceptable. For the most part, the religious values and norms within Islam, Christianity, and other faiths are actually in favour of peace. To save content items to your account, This move is a reaction to severe religious violence in many sub-Saharan countries. The most obvious example of this in recent years has been the emergence of Islamic State. The second kind, theological armed conflicts, refer to violence between parties that are incompatible with regard to religious ideas for instance, the role of religion in the state. Indeed the realities of corruption and endemic conflicts are a stark contradiction to thecore tenets of Africa's twomajor religions, Islam and Christianity, which both advocate morality and decencyfor those working in public office. please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. In Somalia, more than 30,000 have perished since the early 1990s. Does development here mean "economic growth" or rather"a human development perspectivewhich (the Indian economist and philosopher) Amartya Sen would define as the 'ability to live a lifeone values'," asks Wall, who is examining how development is measured in his doctoral thesis. The Religion and Rebels data set (R&R data set), which covers the years from 1946 to 2013, reveals that idea-based religious armed conflicts have been strongly increasing in the last decades. For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription. "If a person can become more productive in making commodities through better education, better health and so on, it is not unnatural to expect that she can, through these means, also directly achieve more and have the freedom to achieve more in leading her life," Sen writes in "Development as Freedom.". A transregional edition examines global trends. And there are no alternatives to commitment, patience, and a carefully designed, long-term approach. In the Pan-Sahel Initiative five Sahelian countries and the United States intend to fight terrorism. Four key issues will determine whether the new US administration will deliver on these expectations. 2021. Although conflicts are often caused by a variety of other factors, such as ethnicity and race, religion has also been at the heart of much of today's atrocities on the continent. Of the 10 truly intrastate armed conflicts, excluding the three cases with external rebels only, 8 have a clear religious dimension. The GIGA Focus is an Open Access publication and can be read on the Internet and downloaded free of charge at www.giga-hamburg.de/en/publications/giga-focus. 7 Causes of Interreligious Conflict in: Religion and Conflict - Brill What does the bigger picture look like beyond anecdotal evidence? "Miracles can be performed even now if you are following as a Christian, it helps in the development of a country,"Banda told DW. It is one of only three countries (Iran and Belize being the other two) to have religious leaders in this case bishops in the legislature.". 2019. If international actors sacrifice long-term goals in favour of short-term necessities or pure self-interest, their efforts are likely to be in vain.
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