Ethnic Groups In Civil War Essay

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Ethnicity relates to civil wars because ethnic groups are the cause of civil wars. Ethnicity is defined as belonging to a social group that carry the same culture, traditions, and identify with each other based on appearance, language, and religion. Ethnic groups carry four criteria’s that include self-perpetuating, share core cultural values, communicating and interacting, and have a membership that can be self-identified by others within the group based on commonalities. Ethnic groups are more likely to carry a grievance, opportunity to rebel, and bargaining problems, which lead to civil war.
Grievance is the main cause of civil wars. Grievance causes civil war because the ethnic group may be dissatisfied with the status quo and organize a rebel group to evade government repression and mobilize the soldiers to make a threat to the state. Ethnic groups create a civil war if they are discriminated against by the state. Discrimination …show more content…

Another factor that causes civil war is the opportunity for ethnic groups to rebel. In order to make to rebel against the state in a feasible way, ethnic groups require following three things that include a base of support, money and supplies, and a weak central government. Ethnic groups or individuals that are challenging the state need to have support. The support can be obtained by having a leader recruit soldiers willing to fight against the state for the interest of the movement of the group. The recruited soldiers provide a safe sheltered place for the rebels or ethnic group can use to operate and leaders can avoid being captured. The leader who recruits the soldiers usually has a strong social network that helps the ethnic groups to have a stronger support base to fight against the state. Usually, those in the same ethnic group or those who has been recruited speak the same language, which leads to trust and accountability, which in turn leads to fewer

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