CHARACTERISTICS OF ETHNO-RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS

In this study, “ethno-religious conflicts” refer to those conflicts which involve parties that are defined along religious lines, societies where religion is an integral aspect of social and cultural life and where religious institutions represent a significant portion of the community and possess moral legitimacy as well as the capacity to reach and mobi­lize adherents throughout the community.

1. Centrality of identity issues: As noted above, the majority of the conflicts today are identity conflicts, where the parties define themselves along ethno-religious lines. Identity is related to a description of who one is and how one fits into social groups and society overall and is closely tied with culture and religion. Various theories have been developed to understand the development and functions of identity (Burton 1990; Kelman 1990; Mitchell 1990; Seul 1999). A wider social recognition of identity - that is the way people and/or groups see, understand and define themselves - and effective participation in social, economic and political processes are recognized today as basic needs of all humanity (Azar 1986; Burton 1990; Kelman 1998; Mitchell 1990). Denial of that identity may lead to a sense of victimization and also to conflict (Burton 1990; Kelman 1990; Rupesinghe 1988: 45). “Identity conflicts are deeply rooted in the underlying human needs and values that together constitute people's social identities” (Rothman 1997: 6). One crucial aspect of identity conflict is that it incorporates psychological, physical, and social dimensions, since identity is an intrinsic element of the “self,” and a perceived threat to “self” or to a sense of security based on a distinctive identity usually over­rides rational thought and reason (Kadayifci- Orellana forthcoming: 19).

2. Intra-state conflicts: Ethno-religious identity conflicts are usually intra-state con­flicts involving people from different religious and/or cultural traditions that live close to each other, or have been put together within the artificial state boundaries. As Lederach (1998: 8) points out, today most current wars (e.g. Iraq, ex-Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka) are intra-state affairs, and they are deep-rooted. As such, they have a long history of mistrust and conflict, which feeds negative enemy images and stereotypes. Also, this means that in the aftermath of the conflict, parties will continue to live close to each other either as neighbors, or as fellow citizens. Therefore, merely resolving the conflict, that is identi­fying and addressing the underlying reason of the conflict such as needs deprivation, is not enough. There is also a need to reconcile parties by transforming negative images into positive ones and establishing structures to address conflict before it escalates into violence.

3. Civilian casualties: The majority of the victims of ethno-religious conflicts tend to be civilians as parties increasingly employ unconventional methods and weapons (such as suicide bombings, ethnic cleansing, etc.). Indeed, Wallensteen and Sollenberg (1996) note that the intensity of these intra-state conflicts and casualties caused by them have been so high that the first post-Cold War decade has been the bloodiest since the advent of nuclear weapons. Therefore, communities involved in these kinds of conflicts often suffer deep collective traumas and injuries and develop deep-rooted and hard-to-transform, negative images of each other.

4. Intractability: Conflicts that are based on ethno-religious identity are usually much more complicated and harder to resolve than those conflicts over resources.

5. Centrality of religion and religious institu­tions: Another distinguishing characteristic of these conflicts is that religion is one of the central identifying characteristics of communities, and religious institutions rep­resent a significant portion of the population possessing moral legitimacy as well as the capacity to reach and mobilize adherents throughout the community. Often, religious feelings can mobilize people faster than other elements of their identity because religion touches upon deep levels of identity (Abu Nimer 2001; Seul 1999). David Little (1991) argues that religious beliefs play an active and prominent part in defining group identity and in picking out and legitimating particular ethnic and national objectives, because of the human need to “elevate given political and economic arrangements in reference to sacred or cosmic standards” (Little 1991: xx). As such, religion and religious institu­tions play a central role in ethno-religious conflicts.

6. Use of religious language, texts and images: As noted by Rothman (1997: 11), identity conflicts are connected to more abstract and interpretive dynamics of his­tory, psychology, culture, values and beliefs of identity groups. During ethno-religious conflicts, religious beliefs, sacred texts, and images are often used and abused to incite hatred and depict enemy images. These beliefs, texts and images serve as lenses through which history and events are inter­preted from.

7. Impact of colonization: Many of the communities plagued with ethno-religious conflicts are traumatized with the impact of colonization and imperialism. Historically, in order to control and rule the local communi­ties, colonizers have resorted to ‘divide and rule’ strategy and set up political systems that favored certain ethno-religious communities that were sympathetic to them. This created bitterness and hostilities among the ethno­religious communities. Today, many of these communities are lagging behind the West in material, technical and scientific terms. Most of them suffer from extreme poverty and economic deprivation and the pressure of globalizing economic structures (Kadayifci- Orellana forthcoming: 22). The common sentiment is that the colonizers, who have exploited and continue to exploit their natural resources, are responsible for this situation of deprivation. This also fuels resentment, and often leads to scapegoating outsiders and/or ethno-religious other, and facilitates constructing enemy images.

8. Crisis of legitimacy: Additionally, many of these societies are faced with a crisis of legitimacy which facilitates attacks on the socio-political legitimacy and economic performance of incumbent governments espe­cially with religious ideologies (Haynes 1994; Juergensmeyer 1993; Sahliyeh 1990). In this context, it becomes easier for religious leaders to use their moral legitimacy to incite violence and hatred and both political and religious leaders do not hesitate to employ reli­gious objects such as sacred texts, symbols, imagery, myths, hymns and so on. to invoke various emotions such as heroism, chivalry, bravery, vengeance, among others. These religious objects, together with other cultural and linguistic constructs, are frequently used to perpetuate a cultural violence, contributing to the continuation of the conflict.