Africa is host to the highest number of religious countries in the world, according to a recent Gallop poll. On the whole, Muslims and Islam in sub-Saharan Africa have traditionally been peaceful and moderate. Sometimes, outside support from religious extremists can add fuel to the fire and facilitate mobilisation, radicalisation, and gruesome violence. Terrorist attacks in Kenya, Uganda, and Western countries seem to be acts of revenge for military involvement in the fight against Islamist groups. In the scientific literature, scholars generally distinguish between two types (see, e.g., Svensson 2007; Fox 2012; Basedau, Pfeiffer, and Vllers 2016). Register, Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. The author explains that ethnic identity in Africa is associated with a homeland and local material well-being, whereas religious identities are associated with moral policies. This publication strategy ensures that people all around the world have equal opportunities to keep up with scholarly advances. The concept of "open access" has empowered the GIGA to virtually eliminate the financial, technical, and legal barriers normally faced by many of those seeking to access the institutes research findings. Religion in afrikanischen Gewaltkonflikten, Germany's New Africa Policy In Need of a Departure, What Drives Interreligious Violence? The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the institute. Languages and Linguistics. 2020. In June 2017, the European Union announced its support for Sahelian governments in fighting religious extremists. There are no easy solutions. Book summary views reflect the number of visits to the book and chapter landing pages. This book explains why conflicts in Africa are sometimes ethnic and sometimes religious, and why a conflict might change from ethnic to religious even as the opponents remain fixed. Religious Leaders as Agents of Lgbtiq Inclusion in East Africa, Subscription prices and ordering for this journal, Purchasing options for books and journals across Oxford Academic, Receive exclusive offers and updates from Oxford Academic. 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. Rather faith is being manipulated in the struggle for power. Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. Basedau, Matthias, and Nina Mappes (2015), Kriegskontinent Afrika? 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;. In Congo-Brazzaville, the so-called Ntsiloulous rebels led by the Protestant extremist Pasteur Ntoumi are also fighting a secular government. * Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. The armed conflicts in Rwanda, Mozambique, and South Sudan as well as the less active conflicts in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have no religious dimension according to our definitions. Your comment will be reviewed and published at the journal's discretion. The Case of Africa, Ethnic Conflict and Civil Life: Hindus and Muslims in India, Competition and Control in Modern Nigeria: Origins of the War with Biafra, The Politics of Southern Self-Government, 197283, Religion and the Press in the Enclave in the Nigerian Civil War, Clientelism and Voting Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Benin, Courting Christians: How Political Candidates Prime Religious Considerations in Campaign Ads, Inside Rebellion: The Politics of Insurgent Violence, Religion, Violence, and Displacement in Nigeria, The Underdevelopment of the Southern Sudan since Independence, Religion and Spirituality: Unfuzzying the Fuzzy, Islam, the People, and the State: Political Ideas and Movements in the Middle East, Find out more about saving to your Kindle, The Logic of Ethnic and Religious Conflict in Africa - Title page, 2 - A Theory of Mobilizational Differences in Identity Types, 3 - Evidence from Cte dIvoire and Ghana, 5 - A Theory of Identities, Political Choice, and Conflict, 6 - Ethnic and Religious Identity in Cte dIvoires Conflict, 7 - Ethnicity and Religion in Sudans Civil Wars, 8 - Ethnicity and Religion in Nigerias Biafran War, Appendix A - Observational Analyses of Afrobarometer Data in Chapter 3, http://africanelections.tripod.com/ci.html#2000_Presidential_Election, www.afrobarometer.org/data/merged-round-1-data-12-countries-1999-2001, http://fr.allafrica.com/stories/200904020802.html, www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/06/nigeria-horror-in-numbers/, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/232803.stm, http://espacepolitique.revues.org/index894.html, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rw.html, www.recherches-africaines.net/document.php?id=236, www.droit-afrique.com/images/textes/Cte_Ivoire/RCI%20-%20Domaine%20foncier%20rural.pdf, www.allbusiness.com/africa/1134782-1.html, www.ivoirebusiness.net/article.php?id=4592, www.usip.org/muslimworld/bulletin/2005/may.html, www.westafricareview.com/issue5/konate.htm, http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/georgetown/2010/05/a_plea_for_peace_Cte_divoire_in_crisis.html, www.reforme.net/archive2/article.php?num=3153&ref=1058, http://ivoirenews.net/info24/tld/5520.html, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/7120593/Jacob-Zuma-fathers-20th-child-with-friends-daughter.html, www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2000/af/index.cfm?docid=773, www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2003/23701.htm, www.vaisse.net/BiblioJustin/Articles/Biblio Justin-Briefvaisse-IvoryCoast_mars2003.pdf, www.vanguardngr.com/2009/08/boko-haram-ressurects-declares-total-jihad/, www.worldchristiandatabase.org/wcd/about/country.asp, Book DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316796252. In Nigeria, the Muslim rebels are fighting against the religiously mixed and secular federal government and military; however, the interreligious character is less pronounced as the conflict is occurring in the countrys overwhelmingly Muslim northern states. of your Kindle email address below. UNDP (2016), Preventing and Responding to Violent Extremism in Africa. It then uses case illustrations from Cte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, and Sudan to highlight the strategic choices of leaders that ultimately shape the frames of conflict. While there may be several underlying factors to conflict or violence that do not have religious roots, the resulting divisions could forever alter Christian . A transregional edition examines global trends. The Sahel region as a whole is constantly under threat: Nigerias Boko Haram (officially called Jamaatu Ahlis Sunna Liddaawati wal-Jihad) has staged attacks in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, while terrorists tied to the Somali group Al-Shabaab have attacked civilian targets in Kenya and Uganda (see Table 1). Muslim scholar Arabi takes that idea even one step further, saying that everyone has the power to act as a role model in his or her own faith: "If you apply (religious principles)strictly, according to the way the religion wants them to be applied, you will always end up with blessings and not a curse. McClendon, Gwyneth Keywords: Causes of Conflict; Actors; War; Tigray, Ethiopia 1. For instance, the Islamist rebellion in Mali is a spillover from Algeria, and Algerian extremists played a key part in the countrys 2012 rebellion. Geographical hotspots of theological armed conflicts are the Sahel, Nigeria, and Somalia. "Mother Theresa of Calcutta took her prayers into the streets of Calcutta, and brought about the integral development of the human person. "The two major religions in Nigeria are Islam and Christianityand neither have ever preached anything that has to do with corruption in any way at all,"says engineer Ashafa Shiru. Some scholars go as far as to completely deny any role of religion (see, for instance, Hasenclever and Sndig 2014). In Sudan (in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile) partly secular rebels are confronting an Islamist government. We should be able to distinguish between religion and bad followers of religion.". and As much as religious figures might not condone corruption, they oftenhaving a hard time proving that they also aren't part of the problem, partly because of the failure to separate church and state in many African nations. Such initiatives may not reach hardcore extremists, but they can alter the views of sympathisers, prevent the radicalisation of youth, and thus curb present and future support for fundamentalists. Such identity overlaps have proven to be a determinant of religious and other armed conflicts (Basedau, Pfeiffer, and Vllers 2016), especially when combined with feelings of marginalisation. Source: African Affairs. 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. This move is a reaction to severe religious violence in many sub-Saharan countries. Please check for further notifications by email. Smith, Amy Erica Noteworthy exceptions are parallel religious and regional boundaries increasing the risk of religious conflict (significant at the 10% level). As in Plateau, these conflicts have been described as inter-religious or inter-ethnic, though the material ramifications of losing indigeneship are the real drivers of violence. Religion, Collective Action, and the Onset of Armed Conflict in Developing Countries, in: Journal of Conflict Resolution, 60, 2, 226255. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways: Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. According to their arguments, rebels who use religion in their claims are merely instrumentalising religion or espousing shallow rhetoric. Professional security forces including the military, police, and intelligence services are indispensable. 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. However, the security forces must act professionally, because the excessive use of violence will only exacerbate the conflict and not reduce it.
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