Why does ethnic conflict occur How can it be avoided - Essay Example

? Causes of ethnic conflicts and how they can be avoided Ethnic conflict refers to a situation where two or more distinct ethnic group comes up against each other due to ethnic nationalism. In some cases they results to war crimes or genocide which makes them of great interest to the international community. They usually fall under the following categories namely instrumentalist, primordialist and constructivist. Instrumentalist seeks to explain the role of community leaders in ethnic conflict while primordialist relates ethnic conflicts as being caused by a common feeling of kinship which makes a group to think along the same line. On the other hand constructivist tries to explain conflicts as being caused by individuals’ learning process1; however, most of the ethnic conflicts are largely caused by social and economic injustices. Gross violations of human rights have played a great role in fuelling ethnic violence; as a result, this has brought about a lingering question as to whether human rights can be enforced and at the same time end violence. Therefore, human rights have a strong negative effect in the management of ethnic conflicts. This has led to the establishment of the international criminal tribunal for Rwanda as well as the special courts for Sierra Leon as an indication of the need of involvement of the international community to address the issues of human rights violations.2 In the 1990s most ethnic conflict were religious base for instance the Palestinian-Israel conflict, Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, the Tamil rebellion in Sri Lanka, the southerners in the Sudan conflict with their northern counterparts just to mention but a few.3 Iran and Sudan are the best example of ethno religious conflicts, and this makes them attract international attention as well as journalistic and diplomatic coverage. The minority tag as in the case of the Kurds in Iran, Iraq and turkey is also a source of ethnic conflict due to their relationship with the state which is governed by the majority ethnic groups. This has exposed them to political and economic discrimination which has resulted in protest and rebellions to air their grievances. Consequently, they have resulted to the use of violent and rebellious organizations and other extra legal means geared towards attaining their rightful status in the society. The media is also to blame for ethnic conflicts that have occurred in various countries around the globe. This is owing to the fact that at times it abuses the freedom of speech and peddles propaganda pitting ethnic groups against each other, and a good example is on what happened in Rwanda and Yugoslavia.4 The media was used to fuel ethnic animosity against the minority Tutsi in Rwanda that resulted in the death of thousands of Tutsi civilians. Furthermore, the absence of a democratic government leads to formation of violent organization by the minority group e.g. in Sudan. Democracy ensures that the minority goals are achieved through a democratic process, and gives room for due process to be followed be it legal means or peaceful organizations. Therefore, the lack of proper democracy being practiced in a country makes violence to be the last resort.5 Mobilization of ethnic groups has also played a major role in fuelling ethnic clashes, which can take the form of being offensive, defensive and preparatory that are all to blame for ethnic uprising. As a result, it leads to the formation of unruly militia groups that bring chaos in the society. Preparatory mobilization is highly counterproductive while at the same time creates unnecessary ethnic tension considering that some minor flare up in most cases leads to ethnic conflict due to this nature of preparedness. Ethnic security dilemma whereby there is no sovereign authority to oversee the security of every group security is another major factor that leads to conflicts. The government may be weak or entirely absent which creates a situation where the respective group acquires a group concern of feeling threatened, as a form of self-defeating nature of this group to enhance their security. The absence of central government to maintain and enforce order leaves the social groups to come up with their own ways of survival. Examples of countries that had in the recent past had a government with no power to enforce the rule of law are Lebanon Afghanistan and Liberia. Ethnic paranoia has also led to some of the ethnic conflicts in the recent past whereby the absence of sovereign authority leaves the militia to the act of law enforcement. These groups have to care for their own survival due to the absence a strong government to take care of them which result to them arming themselves. However, this does not escape the eye of the other groups who in turn arm themselves due to the feeling of being threatened by the first group. This result in a situation where the quest for security ultimately leaves them feeling insecure6 leading to a state of paranoia that lead to spiral reactions over anything that depict any act of ethnic mobilization or something suggesting any aggressive intention. Mistrust among different ethnic groups can also play a role in ethnic uprising, which may simply be due to political affiliation, past war fare or just mere prejudice. This security dilemma can be aggravated if the government is in way display partisanship over one ethnic group. Hence, weaker ethnic group cannot rely on such government for protection example is the Kurds in Iraq who does not trust the Arabs dominated government. Therefore, they see the government as an impartial arbitrator hence they are tasked to defend the presence of their traditions. This would only appear to the government as a direct attempt to challenge its governance resulting to further Kurdish ethnic dissent.7 Change in the strength of the government can also trigger ethnic conflicts, and this would be as a direct result of the imbalance created between the ethnic groups and the government. This leads to fear and eventually triggers the dynamics of security dilemma. These circumstances of sudden change can either be a shift in political balance, minority groups’ isolation, demobilization of group military forces, the breakdown of government or a change in group economic resources. These situations can raise security fears among the various group members of the different ethnic groups in the society.8 Defence dominance in most cases is known to trigger an ethnic flare up whereby the stronger of the two groups usually strikes first to deny the other rival group time to mobilize. They exploit these windows of opportunities to strike first before the rival groups become a powerful force. Another group may be forced into this situation by the need to protect themselves after the creation of a dangerous environment. Sadism in the society can also trigger ethnic disharmony by creating tense situations. The presence of these rogue individuals in the society is not made better by the international community who come in to call for a cease fire. They in a way seem to rewards aggression as the group who stroke first often gets international assistance to coerce them to stop the ethnic stand-off. Thus, they do not pin down the errant elements that caused the uprising averting any future conflicts. This is due to the fact that most groups would try to strike first for the fear of losing the offensive advantage and international support, which makes diplomatic agreement ineffective resulting in an uncompromising situation of the warring groups. Similarity in defensive and offensive military groups makes it hard for both groups to differentiate between an offensive build up and a defensive build up situations. An example is having a pistol in one premise which could be interpreted to be for defensive reason as well as offensive reason. However, this would not be the case in buying a whistle for blowing in alarming situation which would not in any way be a cause for by my neighbour. Population distribution and regionalism can also be linked to instances of ethnic conflicts. The move by rival groups to create an ethnically homogenous area can result to a full blown ethnic cleansing culminating to genocide. This may be a move to quash any threat of having traitors in the territory, and this calls for removal of potentially hostile pockets to safeguard ethnic offensive advantage. To ensure safety of the already captured areas ethnic cleansing is left as the only choice for combatants. Status concerns whereby a group has a fear of being dominated by other groups in terms of either cultural or material way is also a cause of conflicts. This is a move toward their cultural status from being made inferior and ultimately subordinate to that of their neighbour. The struggle for various positions and statuses in the society in most cases leads to ethnic rivalry.9 This drive for social recognition touches on one of the human fundamental issues of feeling worthy. Status conflict emerges when one ethnic group try to block the other from social legitimacy and this search for social autonomy and recognition widens the social cohesion that exists in the society. Consequently, this move makes them see another group as obstacle for them to achieve their social status. Scarcity of resources in the society can also lead to ethnic uprisings, as it bring about inequality between the more advanced groups and the less advanced groups results to ethnic tensions. This is due to a scenario where the less advanced group gets overwhelmed by the more advanced group as they strive to get their fair share in the society. This result in the less advanced group turning violent as an attempt to get a fair share of the resource is constantly thwarted.10 This move at times mimics the political formulations in that it gets to a situation of “who gets what”. This can create a perceived political or economic discrimination which can result in conflicts in the name of protecting those statuses. A wealthy group in the society may at time feel sufficiently recognized for example the Castilian in Spain were wealthier than the Basques but resented their lack of social recognition. A similar example in Yugoslavia where there was a secession since the Slovenians felt that that Serbians only drained their wealth without a corresponding political prominence. This is different from security the dilemma later becomes interwoven as the conflict begins to take shape. This sort of group extinction together with fear of insecurity culminates to actual ethnic conflict. Hegemonic ambitions meant to override the presence of other groups are also a major cause of conflict. This is due to the feeling of not being satisfied with their current status thereby gunning for more recognition, which is a calculated move to impose dominance over other groups. Hegemonic groups usually try to seek state sanctions on matters such their language to be the national language, imposing their religion on the other group by officiating it just to mention a few. They try to intimidate the other group into submission to lesser status in the society in social, economic and political position. In order for status to become a source of conflict, the respective group must be in a position to compare their current positions in the society. This comparison could be with those groups that compete with them for the purpose of recognition. This results in competition of control for social status, economic wealth and political power. However there are certain positions that facilitates comparisons between members of ethnic groups namely; colonization, migration, education, modernization and lastly collapse of an empire.11 Migration of a certain ethnic group to a different region with a different native ethnic group has at time caused ethnic tensions. The migrants inject new skills and attitude which makes them favourite for well-paying jobs and this brings competition for leadership positions. This can lead to the previously peaceful native population getting into conflicts with the migrants. Modernization on the other hand often acts as an incentive to status concern, as it brings together initially isolated groups leading to ethnic cohesion and identification. The entire process of modernization leads to political pressure while at the same time undermining the current division of labor among different ethnic groups. The scars of colonialism are also believed to be one of the causes of ethnic tension between different groups. They seem to favour the less advanced ethnic groups as a way of undermining the elite in the society, and did this to make it easy for them to impart their ideology and cement their influence. Upon the departure of the colonialist, they left new ethnic elites who due to their level of education wanted due recognition by the society. This led them to getting into a government position without considering equal ethnic representation in those positions. In addition, this led to the emergence of ethnic conflicts as particular group felt alienated due to their level of education.12 In addition the colonial regimes created boundary without having reservations about their impact; thus, after their departure, there were numerous border related conflicts pitting ethnic groups against each other. The selfish aspirations of the ethnic elites in the society also play a role in facilitating the development of these conflicts. They play ethnic hatred, fear and ambitions to maintain or gain power. Ethnic conflict can be brought about by reason ranging from financial motives to the presence of cultural values that seem to glorify war and feud acts. Wayward past colonial policies and rules is also believed to have planted the seeds of ethnicity. Some of the colonial masters in the sub-Saharan Africa as were in the case of French in Chad and Belgian in Rwanda and Burundi also enhanced the development of ethnic conflicts. The south of Chad was placed under the direct rule while their northern counterpart was governed through a military regime. The French government handed power to the south while neglecting the north, a move that led to persistent civil and guerrilla wars.13 The Belgian created a class of the social elite among the two ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi; thus, they elevated the minority tribe Tutsi while at the same time overlooking the majority Hutu in various government positions. The Belgians initiated the formation of Hutu political parties to give them an edge in political affairs in Rwanda which made the situation volatile.14 This later culminated to genocide in 1994 where the majority Hutu wanted to wipe out the minority Tutsi. The colonialist relied on the detriment divide and rule policy which furthered ethnic animosity. On the other hand, it is worth noting that greed is also to blame for most of the ethnic conflicts in history. Greed mainly comes in two major forms either greed for power or greed for wealth/resources.15 This results in the emergence of warlords whose sole intention is to amass power and resources. This is the perfect example of what happened in Rwanda as the majority Hutu went for their claim of government positions resulting in a deadly ethnic conflict. Thus, injustices at times are overridden by greediness of the perpetrators of ethnic violence. Ethnic conflict can be avoided by embracing democracy and dialogue in a bid to finding solutions to problems bedevilling our society. In addition, the international community should keep a close watch on any form of human right violation that could culminate o ethnic conflicts. This is because it should serve as the custodian of the minority and oppressed group, and in that case, an ugly situation like the 1994 Rwanda genocide would never occur. All in all, the avoidance of ethnic conflict is a collective responsibility of every person in the world at the personal level as well as the community level. A close scrutiny of the causes of ethnic violence clearly shows that social and economic injustices have played a great role to date. This has been supported by numerous examples from countries such as Rwanda, Yugoslavia, and Sudan, which holds the argument that social and economic injustices are to blame for ethnic conflict. Bibliography Brown, Michael E. Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1997. Byman, Daniel. Keeping the Peace: Lasting Solutions to Ethnic Conflicts. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. Cordell, Karl, and Stefan Wolff. Ethnic Conflict: Causes, Consequences, Responses. Cambridge: Polity, 2009. Easterly, William Russell. Can Institutions Resolve Ethnic Conflict? Washington, D.C.: World Bank, Development Research Group, Macroeconomics and Growth, 2000. Fox, Jonathan. Ethnoreligious Conflict in the Late Twentieth Century: A General Theory. Lanham, Md: Lexington Books, 2002. Juma, Lawrence. Human Rights and Conflict Transformation in Africa. 2013. Notholt, Stuart. Fields of Fire: An Atlas of Ethnic Conflict. London: S. Notholt Communications, 2008. Oucho, John O. Undercurrents of Ethnic Conflict in Kenya. Leiden: Brill, 2002. Sadowski, Yahya M. The Myth of Global Chaos. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 1998. Saha, Santosh C. Perspectives on Contemporary Ethnic Conflict: Primal Violence or the Politics of Conviction? Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2006. Read More