Soc 123 Factbook

Review the web pages The World FactbookLinks to an external site.and Global Conflict TrackerLinks to an external site.. There are also several web pages and websites listed under Recommended Resources in the Course Guide that can assist you in gathering additional information.

Social scientists have long sought to better explain the dynamics of ethnic conflict and racial violence. Violent ethnic conflict is rarely, if ever, caused by ethnic differences alone. Frequently, there are structural foundations of the conflict, including political, social, economic and/or religious inequalities. However, at the same time, in ethnic conflicts participants regard themselves as distinct ethnic groups from opposing factions. Often, opposing sides explicitly emphasize their racial, religious, and cultural differences as a conflict strategy. This is a very interesting time to study the causes and consequences of ethnic conflict as today we can see many tensions that have escalated to violent conflicts.

Select from the list of ethnic conflicts provided below and evaluate its causes and consequences:

Chechnya/Russia

China/Tibet

Former Yugoslavia (Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia)

India/Pakistan

Israel/Palestine

Myanmar

Nigeria

South Sudan

Syria

Ukraine

Then, be sure to thoroughly describe the different ethnic groups involved in the conflict (including any cultural similarities between the groups), the source of the tensions that led to violence between them (paying attention to structural inequalities as causes), and describe how the ethnic conflict has affected the country (or countries). Additionally, explain how the social construction of ethnic divisions can be seen in the case of your selected ethnic conflict.