Managing Ethnic Conflict in Africa


Book Description

In this book, Donald Rothchild analyzes the successes and failures of attempts at conflict resolution in different African countries and offers comprehensive ideas for successful mediation. The book demonstrates how negotiation and mediation can promote conflict resolution, along with a political environment that fosters development.




The Logic of Ethnic and Religious Conflict in Africa


Book Description

The book is aimed at students and scholars of conflict, Africa, ethnic politics, and religion. It may also appeal to religious and political leaders. It proposes a new perspective on how ethnicity and religion shape political outcomes and violence in Africa, adding psychological elements to standard political science arguments.




The Origins of Ethnic Conflict in Africa


Book Description

From Darfur to the Rwandan genocide, journalists, policymakers, and scholars have blamed armed conflicts in Africa on ancient hatreds or competition for resources. Here, Tsega Etefa compares three such cases—the Darfur conflict between Arabs and non-Arabs, the Gumuz and Oromo clashes in Western Oromia, and the Oromo-Pokomo conflict in the Tana Delta—in order to offer a fuller picture of how ethnic violence in Africa begins. Diverse communities in Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya alike have long histories of peacefully sharing resources, intermarrying, and resolving disputes. As he argues, ethnic conflicts are fundamentally political conflicts, driven by non-inclusive political systems, the monopolization of state resources, and the manipulation of ethnicity for political gain, coupled with the lack of democratic mechanisms for redressing grievances.




African Ethnicity


Book Description

Discusses ethnicity in Africa in terms of history and the management, resolution, and prevention of conflicts. Groups some 700 ethnic groups that exist in Africa into six main categories, looks at how ethnicity was used to organize and protect chiefdoms and empires in the past, and inquires into why ethnicity has become more destructive in contemporary Africa. Investigates these questions using the imperial, the liberal, and Marxist models, and finds the liberal model to be the most applicable. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




Fundamental Theories of Ethnic Conflict


Book Description

This book develops and expands on theories that aim at explaining the root causes of ethnic and racial conflicts. The aim is to shift focus from research, policies and strategies based on tackling the effects of ethnic and racial conflicts, which have so far been ineffective as evidenced by the increase in ethnic conflicts, to more fundamental ideas, models and strategies. Contents extend across many disciplines including evolution, biology, religion, communication, mythology and even introspective perspectives. Drawn from around the world, contributors to the book are respected and experienced award winning authors, scholars and thinkers with deep understanding of their special fields of contribution. The book was inspired by the conditions in Kenya, where ethnic violence flared up with terrifying consequences following a disputed election in 2008. Although the conflict was resolved by the intervention of the international community, Kenyans – like many other Africans - continue to live in fear of ethnic conflicts breaking out with more disastrous consequences. The book will be useful to policy makers, NGOs and others involved in promoting peace. It will also be useful in guiding research and as a text book in universities and colleges.




Ethnic Politics and State Power in Africa


Book Description

This book models the trade-off that rulers of weak, ethnically-divided states face between coups and civil war. Drawing evidence from extensive field research in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo combined with statistical analysis of most African countries, it develops a framework to understand the causes of state failure.




Undercurrents of Ethnic Conflict in Kenya


Book Description

This book analyses the ethnic conflict that engulfed Kenya’s Rift Valley Province at the turn of the nineties when multi-party democratic politics were being reintroduced in the country. Its central thesis is that ethnic conflict in the country then was a function of several issues, among them ethnocentrism, politics, the land question and criminal behaviour in certain circles. Both its determinants and consequences are demographic, economic, political and socio-cultural, implying the risks involved in oversimplifying issues.




Ethnicity & Conflict in the Horn of Africa


Book Description

Social conflict is routinely attributed to ethnic differentiation because divinding lines between rival groups often follow ethnic contours; and cultural symbolism has often proved a potent ideological weapon. The purpose of this book is to examine the nature of the bond linking ethnicity to conflict in a variety of circumstances. The ten case studies from the Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya are based on primary research by anthropologists and historians who have long experience of the region. North America: Ohio U Press; Uganda: Fountain Publishers; Kenya: EAEP




Ethnic Conflicts in Africa


Book Description

The resurgence and frequency of violent conflicts and tensions require analyses taking account of the factors that have shaped the history of ethnic identities and warring groups. Citing cultural differences as the ubiquitous precursor hinders such understanding. This fifteen-nation study of conflicts in Africa shows that the capacity or failure to manage such conflicts is determined by changes brought about by the trajectories of historical events. Colonialism erected structures that ruptured the dynamics which had controlled opposing inter-ethnic relations and interests. The post-colonial era witnessed further manipulation and disintegration of ethnic identities and groups, thus making the state central to the dynamics of ethnicity in Africa. The studies book explain how the positive and negative aspects are transformed in the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial histories of African states and groups.




Ethnic Conflict, Tribal Politics


Book Description

Includes statistics.