Abstract
International relations at the beginning of the new millennium are punctuated, by ethnic conflicts. Whether they emerge in Central or West Africa, Southeastern Europe or South Asia, ethnic fault lines have often led to nationalist mobilization at home and with external third party interventions. More often than not, international organizations such as African Union (AU) or United Nations Organization (UNO) cannot effectively interpose themselves so as to prevent escalation of ethnic conflicts.
Civil wars and civil strives are but violent reactions to the pervasive lack of democracy, the denial of human rights, the complete disregard of the sovereignty of the people, the lack of empowerment, and accountability and generally bad governance.
—Adebayo Adedeji1
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
William Reno, Warlord Politics and African States, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1998, pp. 217–227.
Okwudiba Nnoli, Ethnicity and Development in Nigeria, Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 1995, p. 1.
James O’Connell, “Political Integration: The Nigerian Case,” in Arthur Hazlewood, African Integration and Disintegration, London: Oxford University Press, 1967, pp. 126–131.
Awlter O. Oyugi et al., Democratic Theory and Practice in Africa, Nairobi: Heinemann, 1988.
See I. Schapera, A Handbook of Tswana Law, London: Frank Cass, 1938.
M. G. Smith, “Pluralism in Pre-Colonial Africa Societies,” in Leo Kuper and M. G. Smith, editors, Pluralism in Africa, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1971, p. 28.
David Putman, Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993, p. 18.
Obafemi Awolowo, Path to Nigerian Freedom, London: Faber and Faber, 1947, p. 48.
Rupert Emerson, “Nation Building in Africa,” in Karl Deutsch and William J. Foltz, eds., Nation Building, New York: Alberton Press, 1963, p. 104.
For details on the Portuguese Policy in their colonies in Africa see Fola Soremekun, ANGOLA: The Road to Independence, Ile-Ife, Obafemi Awolowo University Press, 1983. Also see Luis Serapiao and Mohamed A. El-Khawas, Mozambique in the Twentieth Century: From Colonialism to Independence, Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1979.
Jean Francois Bayart, The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly, London: Longman, 1993, p. 51.
Crawford Young, “The Dialectic of Politics of Cultural Pluralism: Concept and Reality,” in Crawford Young, ed., The Rising Tide of Cultural Pluralism: The Nation-State at Bay? Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1993, pp. 23–24.
David Welsh, The Roots of Segregation, Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 1971, p. 94.
John Breuilly, Nationalism and the State, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1993, pp. 183–195.
David Welsh, “Ethnicity in Sub-Saharan Africa,” International Affairs, volume 72, no. 3, July 1996, pp. 481–482.
Young, The Politics of Cultural Pluralism, Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1979, pp. 171–173.
John De St. Jorre, The Brothers War: Biafra and Nigeria, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1972.
Milton Viorst, “Sudan’s Islamic Experiment,” Foreign Affairs, volume 7, no. 3, May-June, 1995, p. 49.
See Julie Flint and Alex De Waal, DARFUR: A Short History of a Long War, London: ZED Books, 2005.
Rene Lemarchand, “Burundi in Comparative Perspective: Dimensions of Ethnic Strift,” in John McGarry and O’Leary, eds., The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation, London: Routledge, 1993, pp. 155–156.
D.A. Low, Baganda in Modern History, London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1971, pp. 233–234.
These countries, Angola, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe achieved their independence through armed liberation struggles and guerrilla war. See Richard Gibson, African Liberation Movement: Contemporary Struggle against White Minority Rule. New York: Oxford University Press, 1972
Ann Seidman, The Roots of Crisis in Southern Africa. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1985
Terence Ranger, Peasant Consciousness and Guerrilla War in Zimbabwe. London: James Currey, 1985.
Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1995.
Joshua Bernard Forest, “Ethnic-State Political Relations in Post-apartheid Namibia,” journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, volume 32, no. 3, 1994, pp. 301–302.
Jeremy Harding, Small Wars, Small Mercies: journeys in Africa’s Disputed Nations, London: Penguin Press, 1993, p. 253.
Eliphas Mukonoweshuru, “Containing Political Instability in a Poly-Ethnic Society: The Case of Mauritius,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, volume 14, no. 2, April 1991, p. 220.
Lekopanye Mooketsi, “Botswana: The Beleaguered President,” Southern Political and Economic Monthly, volume 8, no. 7, April 1995, p. 19.
James S. Coleman, NLGERLA: Background to Nationalism, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1958, pp. 227–229.
John P. Mackintosh, Nigerian Government and Politics: Prelude to the Revolution, Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1966, p. 547.
Abegunrin, Federalism and Political Problems in Nigeria, Unpublished M.A. Thesis, North Texas State University, Denton, Texas, 1975, p. 107. Also see Daily Express, November 11, 1964. Also see Adeoye A. Akinsanya, “The Inevitability of Political Instability in Nigeria,” in Adeoye A. Aldnsanya and John A. Ayoade eds., Readings in Nigerian Government and Politics, Ijebu-Ode: Gratia Associates International, 2005, pp. 20–85.
Anthony Enahoro, The Fugitive Offender: The Story of a Prisoner, London: Cassell, 1965, p. 124.
Obafemi Awolowo, AWO: The Autobiography of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960, pp. 246–248.
Isaac Boro, The Twelve Day Revolution, Benin City: Idodo Umeh, 1982.
A.H.M. Kirk-Greene, Crisis and Conflict in Nigeria: A Documentary Sourcebook, 1966–1969, volume 1, Oxford University Press, 1971, p. 447.
J. Adekanye, “The Quota Recruitment Policy: Its Sources and Impact on the Nigerian Military,” in Peter Ekeh and Eghosa E. Osaghae, eds., Federal Character and Federalism in Nigeria, Ibadan: Heinemann, 1989, p. 235.
James J. Oluleye, Military Leadership in Nigeria, 1966–1979, Ibadan: University Press Ltd, 1985, p. 32.
Robin Luckham, The Nigerian Military: A Sociological Analysis of Authority and Revolt 1960–1967, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971, pp. 56–57.
Richard J. Payne and Jamal R. Nassar, Politics and Culture in the Developing World: The Impact of Globalization, New York: Pearson-Longman, 2003, pp. 214–216.
Robin Wright, “Ethnic Conflict: An Overview,” in Charles P. Cozic, ed., National and Ethnic Conflict, San Diego, CA: Green Haven Press, 1994, p. 158.
Sudanese’ civil war that lasted for 21 years, between 1981 and 2005 was between the Arab-led Sudanese government in the north and the Black African Sudanese in the south. The peace agreement that settled the war was signed on January 9, 2005 in Kenya. The civil war going on in Darfur, the Western part of Sudan started early in 2003, when two rebel groups took up arms against the Arab-led Islamic government in Khartoum, citing discrimination against the Black Sudanese in the Darfur region. As of June 2006, at least 2,000,000 people—a third of Darfur’s population have been driven from their homes, and approximately 250,000 have been killed. For full details on the north-south Sudanese’ civil war, and the conflict between the Sudanese Western Region of Darfur, and the Arab-led Islamic government in Khartoum, see Alex De Waal editor, Islamism and Its Enemies in the Horn of Africa, London: Hurst, 2004
Julie Flint and Alex De Waal, DARFUR: A Short History of a Long War, London: Zed Books, 2005.
Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, The Congo, from Leopold to Kabila: A People’s History, New York: Zed Books, 2005.
Heather Deegan, The Politics of the New South Africa: Apartheid and After. New York: Longman, 2001, pp. 167–216.
Kwame Nkrumah, “Addis Ababa Summit, 1963,” journal of Modern African Studies, 1, September 1963, p. 47.
Nkrumah, Africa Must Unite, London: Heinemann, 1963.
Copyright information
© 2009 Olayiwola Abegunrin
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Abegunrin, O. (2009). Ethnicity and Ethnic Conflicts in Africa. In: Africa in Global Politics in the Twenty-First Century. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230623903_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230623903_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-38165-4
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-62390-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)