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Religious discrimination and religious armed conflict in sub-Saharan Africa: an obvious relationship?
[journal article]
Abstract Relative deprivation theory suggests that discrimination increases the risk of violence. While religious armed conflicts have been increasing in sub-Saharan Africa, effects of religious discrimination have rarely been investigated. Using the new Religion and State dataset and other sources, this con... view more
Relative deprivation theory suggests that discrimination increases the risk of violence. While religious armed conflicts have been increasing in sub-Saharan Africa, effects of religious discrimination have rarely been investigated. Using the new Religion and State dataset and other sources, this contribution investigates this question in a two-level analysis. The analysis yields three main results. First, religious discrimination has been increasing over the last 15 years but in interregional comparison sub-Saharan Africa has a low level of discrimination. Second, at the cross-country level there is a significant correlation between religious discrimination and armed conflict over religious content. Third, looking closer at four pertinent country cases (the Comoros, the Gambia, Mali and Mauritania) reveals that discrimination is probably not a direct driver of religious conflicts. High levels of discrimination are embedded in problematic state-religion relations and existing cleavages become mobilised along religious lines through transnational influences and geography.... view less
Keywords
religion; discrimination; conflict; Africa South of the Sahara; Gambia; Mali; Mauritania; developing country
Classification
Peace and Conflict Research, International Conflicts, Security Policy
Document language
English
Publication Year
2019
Page/Pages
p. 30-47
Journal
Religion, State & Society, 47 (2019) 1
Issue topic
The Correlates of Religion and State
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/09637494.2018.1531617
ISSN
1465-3974
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed