If Inequality Is Increasing, Are We Likely to See More Armed Conflict?

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Recommended: Social and economic factors for civil war

The question assumes that there is a linear relationship between inequality and armed conflict; the rise of the former inevitably leads to the increase of the latter. However, in the absence of functioning communism or utopian egalitarianism, we need to concede that our world is full of inequalities, but not all parts of the world are equally ridden by conflict. Moreover, large N-studies of civil war, conducted over the past few years, all seem to conclude that inequality is not directly linked to the risk of civil war (Collier&Hoeffler, 2004: 563-595; Fearon & Laitin, 2003: 75-90; Hegre, Gissinger, Gleditsch, 2003: 251-276). Following this lead, I will argue for a non-linear link between inequality and conflict and for the multi-causality of armed conflict. It will be argued that there are certain factors at play that are capable of significantly altering the course of political struggles. Attention will be drawn to the relational nature of political struggles and the role of political actors in shaping the evolution of conflict.

In the second part of the essay, a case study of South Africa spanning from the apartheid era to the present will serve to illustrate the theoretical insights from the first part. A decade-by-decade account will be given to show how political struggles transformed over time, which strategies various political actors implemented and how they were adapted to specific political, social, economic and cultural circumstances. The reason for choosing South Africa is because it represents a stunning example of inequality and discrimination, particularly during apartheid. Despite the blatant existence of inequality in South African society, political responses to it have been varied, underpinning my claim for c...

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...ampaign.

SAHO d (South African History Online), no date. ‘Down with Afrikaans’, Accessed 22 March 2014 at http://www.sahistory.org.za/articles/down-afrikaans.

Stewart, F. (2000). Crisis prevention: tackling horizontal inequalities. Oxford Development Studies, 28(3), 245-262.

Stewart, F. (2002). Horizontal inequalities: a neglected dimension of development (Vol. 5). WIDER.

Southall, R. (1994). ‘The South African elections of 1994: the remaking of a dominant-party state’. Journal of Modern African Studies, 32, 629-629.

Tilly, C. (Ed.). (2003). The politics of collective violence. Cambridge University Press.

UN World Situation Report, 2013. ‘Inequality Matters’, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Accessed 22 March 2014, at http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/reports/InequalityMatters.pdf.

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