Reappraising the Greed and Grievance Explanations for Violent Internal Conflict

Two phenomena have been recently utilised to explain conflict onset among rational choice analysts: greed and grievance. The former reflects elite competition over valuable natural resource rents. The latter argues that relative deprivation and the grievance it produces fuels conflict. Central to grievance are concepts of inter-ethnic or horizontal inequality. Identity formation is also crucial to intra-state conflict, as it overcomes the collective action problem. Conflict can rarely be explained by greed alone, yet, the greed versus grievance hypotheses may be complementary explanations for conflict. The greed explanation for conflict duration and secessionist wars works best in cross-country studies, but has to make way for grievance-based arguments in quantitative country-case studies. Grievances and horizontal inequalities may be better at explaining why conflicts begin, but not necessarily why they persist. Neither the presence of greed or grievance is sufficient for the outbreak of violent conflict, something which requires institutional breakdown which we describe as the failure of the social contract. The degradation of the social contract is more likely in the context of poverty and growth failure. The paper provides a synthesis of the greed and grievance hypotheses, ending with comments on post-conflict reconstruction.Conflict, civil war, greed versus grievance, social contract, post-conflict reconstruction

The Rise of Ethno-Religious Conflicts in Northern Nigeria: Critical Analysis and Proposal for New Resolution Strategies

The outbreak of conflict in social settings is an intrinsic part of human history. As experienced throughout history, conflict has been a persistent social phenomenon. Though a global phenomenon, conflict in Africa has assumed a painful reoccurring dimension. In the contemporary era, over 25 percent of Africans live in conflict endemic and afflicted countries. In Nigeria, incessant conflicts reinforced by pervasive socioeconomic inequality, political domination, religious fanaticism, ethnic rivalry, and class struggle between the haves and have-nots, particularly in the north are underpinned by the structural configuration that is inherent in the Nigerian society. Drawing on Structural Conflict and Structural Violence theories by Karl Marx and Johan Galtung (with additional theoretical perspectives from the works of Azar, Burton, and Dahrendorf), we interrogate the constant outbreak of ethno-religious crises in Nigeria, especially in the Northern part of the country, its intractable nature, leading to the failure of present resolution strategies. The study reveals that structural violence, that manifests as a result of struggles over political interest, resources, fear of religious domination, external religious occurrence, or even allegations of blasphemy and a host of inequalities are the major triggers of ethno religious conflicts in the country. The study concludes that structural reform that engenders an inclusive political system, equal distribution of resources, social equality, and justice, greater roles for religious and traditional leaders, religious tolerance, and bridging of the gap between the rich and the poor will undoubtedly decrease if not completely eradicate the constant outbreak of ethnoreligious violence in parts of the country

The Rise of Ethno-Religious Conflicts in Northern Nigeria: Critical Analysis and Proposal for New Resolution Strategies

The outbreak of conflict in social settings is an intrinsic part of human history. As experienced throughout history, conflict has been a persistent social phenomenon. Though a global phenomenon, conflict in Africa has assumed a painful reoccurring dimension. In the contemporary era, over 25 percent of Africans live in conflict endemic and afflicted countries. In Nigeria, incessant conflicts reinforced by pervasive socioeconomic inequality, political domination, religious fanaticism, ethnic rivalry, and class struggle between the haves and have-nots, particularly in the north are underpinned by the structural configuration that is inherent in the Nigerian society. Drawing on Structural Conflict and Structural Violence theories by Karl Marx and Johan Galtung (with additional theoretical perspectives from the works of Azar, Burton, and Dahrendorf), we interrogate the constant outbreak of ethno-religious crises in Nigeria, especially in the Northern part of the country, its intractable nature, leading to the failure of present resolution strategies. The study reveals that structural violence, that manifests as a result of struggles over political interest, resources, fear of religious domination, external religious occurrence, or even allegations of blasphemy and a host of inequalities are the major triggers of ethno religious conflicts in the country. The study concludes that structural reform that engenders an inclusive political system, equal distribution of resources, social equality, and justice, greater roles for religious and traditional leaders, religious tolerance, and bridging of the gap between the rich and the poor will undoubtedly decrease if not completely eradicate the constant outbreak of ethnoreligious violence in parts of the country

Violent Conflicts Increase Income Inequality

Political unrest, civil war, and - in extreme instances - genocide have contributed to the disappointing economic growth observed in many developing countries in recent decades, particularly in Africa. Sustained periods of violence also influence the distribution of income within a society; a cross-country analysis shows that income inequality increases as a result of violent conflicts, especially in the early post-war period. Immediate post-war efforts to address the social and economic disruption caused by conflict may help to counteract this trend.Inequality, Conflict, War

Horizontal inequalities, political environment, and civil conflict : evidence from 55 developing countries, 1986-2003

Several studies of civil war have concluded that economic inequality between individuals does not increase the risk of internal armed conflict. This is perhaps not so surprising. Even though an individual may feel frustrated if he is poor compared with other individuals in society, he will not start a rebellion on his own. Civil wars are organized group conflicts, not a matter of individuals randomly committing violence against each other. Hence, we should not neglect the group aspect of human well-being and conflict. Systematic inequalities that coincide with ethnic, religious, or geographical cleavages in a country are often referred to as horizontal inequalities (or inter-group inequalities). Case studies of particular countries as well as some statistical studies have found that such inequalities between identity groups tend to be associated with a higher risk of internal conflict. But the emergence of violent group mobilization in a country with sharp horizontal inequalities may depend on the characteristics of the political regime. For example, in an autocracy, grievances that stem from group inequalities are likely to be large and frequent, but state repression may prevent them from being openly expressed. This paper investigates the relationship between horizontal inequalities, political environment, and civil war in developing countries. Based on national survey data from 55 countries it calculates welfare inequalities between ethnic, religious, and regional groups for each country using indicators such as household assets and educational levels. All the inequality measures, particularly regional inequality, are positively associated with higher risks of conflict outbreak. And it seems that the conflict potential of regional inequality is stronger for pure democratic and intermediate regimes than for pure autocratic regimes. Institutional arrangements also seem to matter. In fact it seems that the conflict potential of horizontal inequalities increases with more inclusive electoral systems. Finally, the presence of both regional inequalities and political exclusion of minority groups seems to make countries particularly at risk for conflict. The main policy implication of these findings is that the combination of politically and economically inclusive government is required to secure peace in developing countries.Population Policies,Social Conflict and Violence,Education and Society,Parliamentary Government,Services&Transfers to Poor

War and Poverty

The main objective of this paper is to systematically identify potential channels of transmission linking civil war and poverty that may lead to the persistence of cycles of poverty and war. A particular focus of the paper is the notion of individual (and group) agency during civil wars, as well as agency constraints faced by populations affected by violence. Although the outbreak and impact of war is known to depend on several financial and political factors, the onset, duration and magnitude of the impact of civil wars are also closely related to what happens to people during violent conflicts and to what people do in areas of violence to secure livelihoods, economic survival, physical security and their social networks. The nature and extent of these choices depends in turn on how individuals and households relate to changes in social norms and forms of institutional organisation during civil wars. The paper explores the economic channels through which war may simultaneously affect and be affected by the economic status and responses of individuals and their immediate relations in areas of violent conflict to cope with and adapt to changes to livelihoods and economic status during civil wars. This analysis focuses in particular on the important but under-researched role of social and political institutional transformation during civil war on individual and household poverty.

Working Paper No. 42, Commodity Production as an Explanatory Variable in the Outbreak of the American Civil War

This inquiry seeks to establish that the American South’s comparative advantage in primary commodity production can be identified as an explanatory variable in the outbreak of the American Civil War. In addition, this inquiry seeks to illustrate the positive historical correlation between a state’s reliance on primary commodity production and its propensity to generate extreme outcomes—namely, institutional inequality, conflict, and civil war. Furthermore, this inquiry seeks to demonstrate that civil wars can be primarily understood as a function of a rebelling force’s economic motivations and explores the concept of King Cotton, westward expansion, and the South’s ultimate secession from the Union as a function of the winner’s curse

Does Timing of Elections Instigate Riots? A Subnational Study of 16 Indian States, 1958-2004

We investigate whether timing of the elections leads to riots or not within India. In other words, does timing of elections instigate riots? The theoretical underpinning is that an incumbent government and opposition parties exercises control over their agents to instigate communal mob violence and riots during the election years. The motto behind instigating riots is that it leads to polarization of voters and thus benefits the respective constituents (incumbent government & opposition parties). Using time series crosssectional data for 16 major Indian states for the period 1958 ñ 2004, we find that scheduled elections are associated with increase in riots. Also intensity of riots, proxied by rate of growth rate of riots increases in scheduled election years. We also find that riots and intensity of riots are responsive to the propinquity to an election year. Meaning, as incumbent government nears the elections, riots and intensity of riots keeps increasing, while this is exactly opposite during the early years of incumbent government in office. These results suggest that elections generate ìriots cycleî in regionally, ethnically, culturally and socially diverse country like India.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64385/1/wp939.pd

World polity: anatomy of and arguments for regional and global integration

This article is inspired by taking sort of a medical view on the international political world2. A medical view here means that first we need to understand the anatomy of the organism that we observe, i.e. the world. Secondly, we need to make some diagnoses and prognoses about possible threats to the functioning of this organism as well as how to restore health. In Political Science terms this means identifying threats to security, peace, survival and wellbeing of states, nations, and individuals, as well as the whole, and to identify possible political solutions to these threats. The first part of this article will present the history of global integration and why it is necessary to prevent war and to facilitate peace at the example of Europe. Europe is here regarded a greenhouse for global integration. This part describes the attempts at integration before the major wars in Europe in the last centuries, the reasons for these wars as the failures or lack of integration, and the way it was overcome. The second part of this article will present an ideal type global political anatomy. This will be illustrated with graphics, which are thought to make the global political system better understood by visualising key aspects of it. The third part of this paper will discuss the nature of reality, which is important to understand conflicts in today’s world, as ‘virtual’, material, social and cultural. It will present a challenge to Alexander Wendt’s recent idea of reality as a hologram and discuss how civilizational conflicts, as described by Samuel Huntington, can possibly be resolved by creating a global demos (polity) by establishing a global parliament. As the basis for the latter argument, finally, this paper will present and analyse the results from the survey on global citizenship. Global demos here refer to the idea of a global polity, or identification of the global population with the global, or to say it alternatively: as global citizens. It is argued that, if we would have a global demos, this would facilitate global integration, which is necessary for peace. For example, further global integration towards a world state with a world parliament, is thought to be only possible and sensible if there is a reasonable global demos to build this entity on.For this reason, this article presents results from a survey run at the University of Hull in 2016 intended to measure global citizenship

The Social and Political Dimensions of the Ebola Response: Global Inequality, Climate Change, and Infectious Disease

The 2014 Ebola crisis has highlighted public-health vulnerabilities in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea – countries ravaged by extreme poverty, deforestation and mining-related disruption of livelihoods and ecosystems, and bloody civil wars in the cases of Liberia and Sierra Leone. Ebola’s emergence and impact are grounded in the legacy of colonialism and its creation of enduring inequalities within African nations and globally, via neoliberalism and the Washington Consensus. Recent experiences with new and emerging diseases such as SARS and various strains of HN influenzas have demonstrated the effectiveness of a coordinated local and global public health and education-oriented response to contain epidemics. To what extent is international assistance to fight Ebola strengthening local public health and medical capacity in a sustainable way, so that other emerging disease threats, which are accelerating with climate change, may be met successfully? This chapter considers the wide-ranging socio-political, medical, legal and environmental factors that have contributed to the rapid spread of Ebola, with particular emphasis on the politics of the global and public health response and the role of gender, social inequality, colonialism and racism as they relate to the mobilization and establishment of the public health infrastructure required to combat Ebola and other emerging diseases in times of climate change