Sociology of Ethnic Conflict Analysis Term Paper

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Introduction

The term conflict can often be used to refer to armed conflict. Many sociologists define conflict in reference to the many existences and the pursuance of incompatible goals by two or even more parties. Other sociologists also make a distinction between disputes that are over interests and conflicts from those that are over values. These sociologists also observes that conflicts of interests can be negotiated, mediated or even subjected to a judicial determination while conflicts involving needs, values and identity can not be subject to compromise. Many scholars usually have diverse perceived differences on the perception of ethnic conflicts. Many sociologists are seen to view conflict as subjective in the sense that for the conflict to occur there must be a dysfunctional and the effects of the conflict must be felt by so many people. The term conflict can get its meaning when the effects of this conflict have been felt by so many people. The other group of scholar see the term conflict need to be felt by many parties to the conflict and hence see conflict as been objective meaning that there exists a structural violence and structural violence is not felt by the parties. (Avruch, 1992).

There are so many classifications of conflicts and a good example to explain this is the ethnic conflicts and this ethnic conflict can be defined as a dispute between ethnic groups and the major causes of these conflicts are cultural, political, economical and the territorial issues which is said to be between two or more communities. When such differences occur between these two or more ethnic groups, you tend to find that the end product is conflict as a result of the differentiating factors which occur. This type of conflict can be differentiated from the other conflicts in that you find that the ethnic conflicts are based on ethnic identities and only occur between these ethnic groups. These conflicts start up as internal disputes whereby if not controlled can even lead to external conflicts and hence become internationalized when other neighboring states plus other international actors get involved in trying to manage this conflict. Conflicts can be managed and when not properly managed, then it leads the country to have more conflicts or even become more vulnerable to conflicts unlike in other states and a good example to explain this phenomena is in Tanzania and Rwanda. (Avruch, 1992).

There are also important frameworks and themes in the ethnic conflicts hence meaning that symbolic social and ethnic status is quite important in understanding the most underlying issues for the causes of the ethnic conflicts in most of the states. These two terms are said to be important in determining group status in most of the post- colonial societies and hence it’s seen that this state can not compete effectively with this states in the allocation of prestige. You also find that under the colonial rule most of the economic benefits and attributes are said to be based on ethnic status and hence can be seen as becoming a matter of state. (Gurr, 2000).

In tracing the historical origins of most of the states especially the African countries there are many effects of partition in the African countries with good reference to Tanzania and Rwanda. More over the creation of ethnicity as one of the ideological statements of popular appeal in the context of the most profound economic and social changes in these countries as mainly the result of historical experiences in the colonial Africa.

The range of disputes, which are said to be more violent or otherwise is seen to support the impression that most of the ethnic conflicts are said to be highly multiplying at an exponential rate. You also find that in most of the states, the rate of ethnic conflicts is quite high in a that country while on the other hand, the rate slows down in the other country. To explain this, we are going to look at the various conflicts in Rwanda and why in Rwanda, it has been more susceptible to violent escalation, while others like in Tanzania are not. You find that most of the countries are usually associated with conflicts and have not been in a position to properly manage these conflicts the moment they occur hence leading to the vulnerability of violent ethnic conflicts in this country. There have been at least 48 existing conflicts in Rwanda unlike in Tanzania but the biggest question in this particular case is why some of the countries are more vulnerable to violent progress, state breakdown and collapse and yet other countries are not? Many researches have been done and more research is still going on in order to try and answer this particular question since there has been a growing concern on some of the states which are said to be more vulnerable to violent actions and hence leading to instability in that particular state. (Gurr, 2000).

In Rwanda. The Hutu ethnic members wanted democracy while at the same time the Tutsi wanted justice for the Genocide victims. As a result of the major political and social differences between these two groups it led to ethnic violations. Even today those people who are living have not been in a position to resolve the conflicts which are between these two groups. The biggest problem with the two groups is the power sharing since the Tutsi have dominated the country in terms of power hence leading to the great hunger by the Hutus. (Gurr, 2000).

Interactions with the neighboring countries

Unknown to so many people, the mood of intolerance, animosity and hatred is thought to have begun in Rwanda and Burundi hence leading to a rise in the ethnic conflicts and this was during the early 1960s which is thought to have occurred in a very unpredictable manner. This type of conflicts matured over a certain period of time hence leading to a 1994 Genocide which is seen to have occurred in Rwanda during that time. These are two East African countries which are said to have a bad relationship with each other and this particular conflict can be blamed to Batutsi and Bahuti respectively. The many ethnic conflicts between these two countries were tribal clashes which took so many years and is said to have involved everybody both the weak and strong, the old was not spared at all. The issue of deep hatred between these two counties since time immemorial led to the escalation of this conflict. This particular conflict can be traced back to the colonial period and this colonial conflict was shortly after the Berlin Conference in the year 1884. (Fry, 1997).

It was as a result of the poor interactions between Rwanda and Burundi which are seen to have led to the continued conflicts between these two countries. For example it was as a result of the poor interactions between the Batsutsi and the Bahuti which led to the killing of so many people. Many of the Mahuti militants which were armed with machetes, bows and arrows are thought to have attached the Batsusti leaders hence killing all the Batsutsi leaders. During these conflicts, women and children were not spared at all and hence merciless killing to these people whereby many huts were set ablaze. Several hundreds of people are said to have been killed during this conflict plus the many people who went on exile to the neighboring countries. (Fry, 1997).

It was after the partition in Africa when Germany is seen to have established a colonial rule in both countries respectively whereby the Germany was defeated and the Belgium took over and by then, Belgium was thought to be the most divided. Hatred between these two countries led to the vulnerable growth of tribal clashes between these two countries. You find that for instance in Rwanda, it introduced education only for the Batsutsi at the expense of the Bahuti. At the end of the day, the Bahuti learned that only the Batsutsi were given good jobs and leading to hatred between these two groups. This led to the violent reactions by the Bahuti which led to the drive out of the Batsutsi from Rwanda and this happened for a period from 1959-1973. This is a good evidence of the continued escalation of tribal clashes in both two countries simply because they could not manage this conflict which occurred between them. This is now the beginning of an uprising that led to the horrors of genocide which occurred in both Rwanda and Burundi during 1993 and 1994 respectively. (Fry, 1997).

Social class differences

Rwanda and Burundi were colonized by Belgium and this is one of the factors which have led to the many differences between these two countries and their ethnic groups. You find that the Belgium society was very much divided and was stratified in to castes that are both the Walloons and Flemish. The Walloons were upper class while on the other hand the Flemish was the lower class people hence meaning that there was hatred between these two countries. As any sociologist may try to understand these two terms, you find that the upper class (nobles) tries to differentiate themselves from the lower class and mostly they don’t even interact with the lower class. There is a clear distinction between these two groups. As a result, this could never be hidden in these two countries that are both Rwanda and Burundi during this period of colonization.

This led to the stratification of three ethnic groups. In this case the Batsutsi who where by then pastoralists and the Bahuti who were agriculturalists and the Batwa who are said to be potters and hunters. The ruling class in both Rwanda and Burundi is Batsutsi and hence only a few of the Batsutsi were nobles and rulers. Most of these people are poor and are said to have benefited little materially from the caste system. Most of the social change and intermarriages led to the distinctions of the caste and in this case, the division became more of a class than ethnicity. So, due to the many classes which existed between these two countries there are many tribal clashes occurring between these two countries. This is because those belonging to the upper class usually benefit while those at the lower class are left to suffer hence leading to the continued partition of ethnic clashes between these two countries. The issue of colonialism can have an effect to the country colonized since it was as a result of the colonial differences in Belgium which led to these differences to get deeply rooted meaning the many conflicts. (Betts, 2002).

Ethnic identities issues

Identity as many sociologists explain it is one of the fundamental basic needs in most of the societies that underlies many intractable conflicts. It is said that most of the conflicts which are as a result of identity is seen to arise when the individual members feel that there sense of life has been denied legitimately or when they have been threatened and the lack of respect to this groups identity. Many sociologists argue that identity is integral to human esteem and once denied it can lead to the continued tribal conflicts between the groups which are involved. Any response to the group identity will evoke response and this type of response can be both aggressive and defensive and is seen to escalate quickly in to ethnic conflict. These conflicts will then tend to persist since most of the ethical conflicts are not easily put aside. (Betts, 2002).

Identity is the most primary issue in racial and ethnic conflicts and need to be addressed before it grows. But you find that in Rwanda, ethnic conflicts have been in a position to rise since they don’t respect each others identity. For example, it was after the colonial rule which left most of the Rwanda people to lack identify since they were divided in to both noble classes and the poor classes. You find that the poor classes were denied their rights since noble class could access good education which could lead them to getting the good jobs unlike the poor masses. As a result it resulted to Genocide hence leading to the killing of so many people. It was out of lack of identity in Rwanda which led to the deaths of so many people unlike in Tanzania whereby there is the presence of identity and everybody identity is respected especially in the sharing of the countries resources. All these conflicts are said to center on the matters of fair treatment which did not happen in Rwanda and the security matters and the sense of control over ones life. Those conflicts which are centered on identity are said to threaten party’s very existence. They are said to be intense even more than the interest based conflicts hence meaning that they will tend to be more vulnerable in that country. (Betts, 2002).

In Tanzania, it is one of the country which is thought to have so many ethnic groups. It has 120 ethnic groups and none of the groups predominates the other. During the sharing of the countries resources no group is said to be more superior that the other and the sharing of resources are done equally. It is also one of the countries with many non-Africans hence meaning that they interact so well with each other unlike in Rwanda which has resulted into so many conflicts. Even though ethnic identities may have weaked over the years, the country has solved these differences hence leading to stability between these countries. There have also been many tensions between Tanzania indigenous and the Asian communities which are said to be prominent in the business have also surfaced in the recent years. There have been differences between the Asian communities and the Tanzania indigenous group over a certain period of time but this is seen to have solved unlike the continuing conflicts which are still occurring in Rwanda in Burundi. (Betts, 2002).

You find that Tanzania has been inhabited by Swahili which are seen to have inhabited the East African Coast and this was during the 1st century. Arabic and Chinas medieval documents record there presence and this was distance trade of ivory, grain exchange among other communities. It is due to the interactions with these people which have led to the end of the ethnic conflicts between these people. This is because the Asian and the Swahili group were distance traders which are seen to have facilitated trade in Tanzania. As a result, they have welcomed these people and hence meaning that there are no ethnic conflicts in Tanzania unlike in Rwanda. (Cohen, 2000)

Unmet human needs

Most of the ethnic conflicts arise as a result of the unmet human needs. Many human needs theorists argue that many of the intractable conflicts are said to be caused by the lack of the proper provision of the fundamental human needs. These basic needs may include food, shelter, security and clothing among other necessities. These more complex needs are to be centered on the capacity to exercise our choice in all aspects of the ones life and to have ones identity and other cultural values which are accepted as legitimate. In most of the societies, the need for a distributive justice which is coupled with the ability to participate in the civil society is thought to be quite essential in most of the societies. So when all these needs are not met in societies, then there is a continued escalation of ethnic conflicts since you tend to find that some of the communities are benefiting at the expense of the others.

A good example to explain this is in Rwanda whereby most of their needs have never been met and some of the people are still living as refugees in the neighboring country like in Tanzania. It is the issue of the social classes which has led to some societies benefiting while the poor in this case have been neglected. As a result there has been the continued partition of ethnic conflicts in Rwanda unlike in Tanzania whereby there is equal distribution of the countries benefiting and there are no social classes in Tanzania. Most of the ethnic conflicts jeopardize the individual’s physical safety and their security meaning that these people have to run to other countries in search for security. It is due to the denial of these people basic needs which is seen to the rise in the poverty levels. Environmental degradation, poor health and the lack of the adequate housing has also led to the many ethnic conflicts in Rwanda. Since all individuals are entitled to the acquisition of these needs, they will fight against each other so that they can too benefit from these resources. In Rwanda, the poor ethnic groups are still fighting indefinitely in order to ensure that there goals have been achieved. (Bell-Fialkoff, 1996).

High stakes distributional issues

Distributional issue is one of the factors which have led to the escalation of ethnic conflicts in Rwanda unlike in Tanzania. Conflicts which are said to be surrounding who gets what and how much one is supposed to get tend to be more intractable. The items to be distributed in this case include things like both tangible and the intangible resources. If there are so many resources in that country, then those resources must be distributed equally and no one particular group is to benefit more than the other. But when there are cases for no enough resources so as to satisfy every ones needs and no more resources can be created, the conflict then becomes a win and lose situation. So in Rwanda, there have been more ethnic groups as a result of the distribution of the countries resources. The government was owned by the minority while the majorities were left to suffer. In the issue of the distribution of the countries resources only a few communities benefited and a good example is the Batsutsi group which benefited at the expense of the majority group. As a result there has been a continued ethnic conflict in Rwanda unlike in Tanzania whereby there is ethnic identity and every group gets its share equally. That is why there has no been case of ethnic conflicts in Tanzania. Most of the people even run to Tanzania as refugee simply because there are no ethnic conflicts.

Domination conflicts are a special type of the high stakes distributional conflicts which are found in Rwanda. These are conflicts in which the resources in which are to be distributed are usually social status. Here most of the people want to be at the top and remain at the top of the social and the economic hierarchy meaning that they benefit more at the expense of those at the lower classes. As a result, there is a perpetual struggle which is said to be between those majorities at the lower classes and the minority upper classes. Due to these struggles, then ethical conflicts will tend to rise simply because the president comes from a ethnic group, this person will take most of the resources to his ethnic groups yet neglecting the other groups.

As a result, ethnic conflicts will tend to arise. Conflicts of the social status occur between either individual groups or between community groups since you find that most of the social status conflicts are usually connected to the unequal economic power. So if a group has the dominion conflicts, then you will find that it will have more conflicts unlike the countries that do not have this particular conflict. There will be a continued escalation of the ethnic conflicts and hence the need to manage this conflict in order to ensure that it doesn’t persist. There should be equal access to the economic power and it should not only be those people who have the high social status should have the access to the economic power since it will mean that eventual it will lead to the ethnic conflicts in the societies which have been denied the access to this particular power. (Bell-Fialkoff, 1996).

Differences in the ethnic composition

In Tanzania, it is the country with the most ethically homogenous and also which is resistant to the military interference. As a result, in Tanzania, it experiences very low levels of the ethnic conflicts. When there are so many ethical heterogeneity, it means that there are so many ethical groups meaning that the chances of the ethical conflicts to arise are usually so high. So when compared with Rwanda, in Tanzania, there is more to ethical homogeneity hence meaning that there is the high resolution of conflicts whenever they occur. But with Rwanda, they have a great impact to the post colonial rule since there colonizer left with them the issue of two classes and this is the noble class and the low classes meaning that there is no ethnic homogeneity and some groups are more superior to the other groups. The interplay which is between the ethnic composition and the high levels of institutionalization is seen to provide the answer to why most military is seen to dominate most of the states but not other states hence leading to the escalation of ethical conflicts in some countries and not in others. (Bell-Fialkoff, 1996).

Colonial incursions

Many sociologists argue that most of the ethical conflicts are due to the colonial incursions which are seen to have compounded the inter-ethnic inimicable relations. As a result, most of the countries have so many ethnic conflicts than the other countries. Rwanda is one of the country which is so much affected by the colonial incursion since most of the colonial powers are seen to have utilized the segmentation of most of the ethnic groups. As a result, most of these communities usually focus their energies on fighting each other. It was out of the colonial incursions that these ethnic groups have experienced a continued conflict. The colonial power only encouraged these communities to fight against each other rather than overthrowing the colonial government which was ruling Rwanda during that particular time.

There is a continued escalation of the violent fights between the ethnic communities unlike in Tanzania which did not fall victim of the colonial incursion. In Rwanda, the authors usually posit that the promulgation of the most hermitic mythology is seen to have been the root cause of the pogroms in this country unlike in Tanzania. So the colonialists in this case are seen as the most controversial factor to the vulnerability of the ethnic conflicts in most of the countries unlike in other countries. In most of the times Rwanda has been having tensions that are between Muslims and Hindus and this has ranged for centuries now. These tribes can be motivators to conflicts in Rwanda unlike in Tanzania whereby they have lived with these people for quite a long time and there has never been conflicts between them The Swahili are seen to have occupied the East Coast Region of Tanzania and no such case of conflicts. So the negative attitude these people have on the Muslims and Hindu has led to the growth of the ethnic conflicts between them. (Bell-Fialkoff, 1996).

Ethnic tensions are seen to have risen in Rwanda as a result of the arrival of the Belgians and this happed during the year 1916. Before the coming of the Belgians to Rwanda, the issue of ethnic tensions was not there but when they came, they are seen to have elevated these two differences and this happed after choosing the Tutsis to be the most superior individuals over the Hutus. The identity cards which were produced in Rwanda were also produced in a way to differentiate between the two ethnic groups hence meaning that the Hutus were looked down upon hence leading to the ethnic violence between the two ethnic groups. These people were also given the good governmental posts unlike the Hutus. It was not until the year 1959 when the Hutus arose and started fighting for their rights. So you find that social classes in Rwanda were started by the colonialists hence the issue of the social class escalated in Rwanda with some people benefiting at that is the Tutsi. It was out of the ethnic differences that the ethnic violence in Rwanda escalated so much. (Avruch, 1992).

Corrosive, hierarchical and the divisive nature of capitalism

This is another factor which has led to the increased ethnic conflicts in some countries while at the same time, some countries have been in a position to manage these conflicts. Some ethnic groups usually perceive others to be economically so secure, they eventually turn to ethnicity as an anchor and this usually happens in the case when those who are better in the society come from only a particular ethnic group and the rest of the poor people come from a different economic group. So the issue of ethnic conflict usually appears to the need of every citizen of that country to be economically secure but not only a few elites from a single ethnic group to benefit at the expense of the majority who are poor in that particular country.

In Tanzania, there is ethnic homogeneity meaning that they live together as a society and there are no so many social statuses which occur. As a result you tent to find that there are not higher chances of ethical conflicts unlike in Rwanda. Over the past years, Rwanda has fallen a victim of the ethical conflicts and the major reason for this is the hierarchical and the diversive nature of the capitalism. As a result of the many social classes which existed in Rwanda, then there arose so many ethical conflicts since most of the people from the poor ethnic groups where usually discriminated and only the rich continued to be rich. So, when such cases occur in a particular country, then there will be persistent ethnic conflicts usually over the distribution of the countries resources. So due to the desire for the social economic needs, these communities are forced to fight against each other so that they can be in a position to access these resources. Whether it is a peasant in Rwanda, or even the wealthiest in Rwanda, they are all pushed in to conflict by the social economic needs. (Altbach, 2000).

The divisive nature of capitalist can lead to ethnic groups to fight against each other. There is evidence of capitalism in Rwanda and this was after the colonial rule. Many of the ethnic groups were divided in to two groups and these are the capitalist and the poor. It is the capitalist who owned the resources while the poor could work on their farms. This is not evident in Rwanda alone but there are still other countries which still practice the same. This is a bad form of government and it also threatens the economic growth hence leading to skewed growth in the community whereby it’s only a few individuals who benefit.

Divide and rule

The issue of the divide and rule has played so much in the ethnic violence in most of the countries. For example in Rwanda which falls under the arms of the Belgium divide and rule policies. The policy of the divide and rule existed in Rwanda as a result of the social classes which existed. The divide and rule policies led to the rise of the many ethnic groups since most of the ethnic groups had their own type of leadership. For example the Batsutsi who were the noble classes had their own type of leadership in that they only benefited at the expense of the poor. We see that this is the only group which could access power and good jobs meaning that they had their own type of leadership. The poor were oppressed and denied most of the human needs.

Human justice and the observance of ones rights are important to any ethnic group. These differences are the ones which lead to some people feeling that they are good than others. Eventually the ethnic conflicts will tend to arise. Good evidence can be seen when the Bustutsi got well jobs and education unlike the Buhutus hence leading to the ethnic violence between the two communities. So you tend to find that the divide and rule policy which was in Rwanda has led to than escalation of the ethnic violence unlike in other countries. Some groups felt to be more superiors than others hence meaning that during the distribution of the countries resources, it’s only some groups which were seen to benefit at the expense of the other ethnic groups. (Altbach, 2000).

Conclusion

Ethnic violation is an action which is happening in most of the societies even up to day. There are many causes which are said to be associated with the ethnic violence but you tend to find that in some countries, it is more than other countries. There are also other factors which have led to the growth of ethnic violence in some countries and these factors include the social justice and rights of the individual. You tend to find that if people have been denied their own rights then definitely this will lead to the ethnic violence like in Rwanda and other countries like Burundi, Algeria and South Africa among other African countries. One thing is needed in Rwanda and this is the promotion of culture of human rights and starting with the most important of all existing rights and this is the right for one to live. It is the issue of realizing and respecting ones identity which will lead to the end of the ethnic conflicts. So, countries that are more vulnerable to ethnic violence should be in a position to manage these conflicts since it’s through managing these conflicts that they will be in a position to stop then fully.

Reference

Ackerman, P. (2000): A force more powerful: A century of Non violent conflict. New York: ST. Martins Press.

Altbach, P. (2000): The new Pilgrims. New York: David McKay.

Anderson, M. (1999): How aid can support peace or war. Boulder, Colorado and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Aureli, F. (1999): Natural conflict resolution. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Avruch, K. (1992): Culture and conflict. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Institute of peace press.

Avruch, K. (1992): The culture question and conflict. Peace and change 16:22-45.

Barnes, R. (1996): Three decades of peace education ar4ound the world: An Anthology. New York. Garland Publishing.

Betts, R. (2002): Conflicts after the cold war: Arguments on causes of war and peace. Second edition. New York and London: Longman.

Bell-Fialkoff, A. (1996): Ethnic cleansing. New York, New York: St. martins Press.

Burton, J. (2000): Conflicts: Practices in management, settlement and resolutions. New York and London’s. Martins Press.

Cohen, R. (2000): Negotiating cross cultures: International communication in an interdepended world. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Institute of peace press.

Fry, D. (1997): Cultural variation in conflict resolution. Alternatives to violence. Mahwah New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Gurr, T. (2000): Minorities at risk. A global view of ethno political conflict. Washington, D.C.: United States institute of peace press.

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