Killing Cleavages: The Politics of Religious Diversity and Armed Conflict

About

Religious cleavages in and of themselves cannot predict the outbreak of civil war. Facing a similarly divided religious population, the strategies chosen by states dealing with diversity will be critical to the risk of violence. This seminar will discuss the theoretical and empirical limitations in the existing Religion-Conflict nexus, as well as suggest a new way of modeling conflict risk that accounts for the context of state policies that decide whether religious diversity turns deadly. A comparative case study of Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana demonstrates that a religious divide does not predetermine political violence. Rather, intervening variables such as political strategies of exclusion, reinforcing cleavages, and religious concentration help explain why religion gains political relevance and leads to violence in one case and not the other. Understanding the consequences of how we deal with religious divides is crucial for political scientists and policymakers' efforts to avoid religious violent conflicts.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come-first served basis.