Overview
Social scientists have long sought to better explain the dynamics of ethnic conflict and racial violence. Violent ethnic conflict is rarely, if ever, caused by ethnic differences alone. Frequently, there are structural foundations of the conflict, including political, social, economic, and/or religious inequalities. However, in ethnic conflicts, participants regard themselves as distinct ethnic groups from opposing factions. Often, opposing sides explicitly emphasize their racial, religious, and cultural differences as a conflict strategy. This is a remarkably interesting time to study the causes and consequences of ethnic conflict, as today we can see many tensions that have escalated to violent conflicts.
For this assignment:
Using Global Conflict Tracker
- Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project identify and select an ethnic conflict you would like to research. Examples of areas of conflict that could be considered include the following, but you are not limited to just the following:
Afghanistan
Peru
- South Sudan
Nigeria
Ukraine
In addition to our Required Resources, locate two scholarly resources to support your conflict evaluation.
Describe the different ethnic groups involved in the conflict (including any cultural similarities between the groups).
- Identify the source of the tensions that led to violence between them, paying attention to structural inequalities as causes.
Explain how ethnic conflict has affected the country (or countries).
Evaluate how the social construction of ethnic divisions can be seen in your selected ethnic conflict.
Identify the potential consequences of the conflict.