Overview

To what extent do minority grievances contribute to intrastate conflict? Against the backdrop of rising discrimination against religious minorities worldwide, Religious Minorities at Risk offers new insights into classic debates on the influences of discrimination, deprivation, and inequality (DDI) on minority grievances and conflict behavior. It does so by utilizing original data on 771 religious minorities in 183 countries between 2000 and 2014. The book demonstrates that DDI is a significant cause of minority grievances which, in turn, deeply influence their conflict behaviors.It also shows the different effects of governmental and societal religious discrimination versus political and economic and marginalization. Religious, political, and economic grievances each escalate conflict intensity by aggrieved minorities in different ways. Ultimately, the book shows that collective grievances remain a powerful explanation for minorities' conflict behaviors; although influenced by DDI, they are not reducible to them. Second, while religious factors, including religious discrimination and grievances, uniquely contribute to minority conflict behavior, the overall patterns observed for religious minorities closely mirror those typically theorized for other minority groups. Finally, minority conflict intensity reflects the difficulties states encounter in accommodating them. Whereas religious grievances are relatively easily accommodated and therefore rarely escalate beyond rioting, political grievances influence a wider range, from non-violent protest to violence against civilians. Economic grievances, which demand costly systemic reforms, more often escalate to rebellion. An essential work on the causes of intercommunal and intrastate conflict, this will assist policymakers dealing with these issues.

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9780197693940

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13/03/2023 Main NY C Sales C 21/09/2023 54.00 JPS

"""Religious Minorities at Risk is a superb work of scholarship. This accessible volume raises and effectively answers important research questions, such as why and how minorities express grievances against states. Data on religious minorities around the world from 2000 to 2014 confirms that deprivation, discrimination and inequality produce grievances and a wide range of resulting conflict behavior. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in religion or international relations."" -- Patrick James, University of Southern California ""Scholars, activists and policymakers have long suspected religious discrimination leads to much of the turmoil the world is experiencing. The specifics, however, remain unclear. In this book, Basedau, Fox, and Zellman's extensive new dataset and rigorous analysis clarify this situation. The result is a compelling work that promises to be a foundational text for future research and the catalyst for numerous debates on religion's role in world politics."" -- Peter Henne, University of Vermont ""An important contribution by leading authorities investigating the empirical relationship between religious minority grievances and conflict, this careful analysis illuminates the complexities of this association. The authors illustrate that grievances do motivate religious minority conflict participation but in a significantly more nuanced way than previously articulated. The substantively notable findings emphasize the importance of disaggregating both grievance type and conflict outcomes for a clearer picture of this critical relationship."" -- Johanna K. Birnir, University of Maryland ""In this pathbreaking book, Matthias Basedau, Jonathan Fox and Ariel Zellman introduce the first major dataset of religious minorities and conflict behavior worldwide. Although group capacity also matters, they show through sophisticated quantitative analysis that grievances are by far the primary drivers of various types of rebellion. This book and its dataset are poised to become essential resources in an emerging research program on the drivers of religion-based conflict across societies."" -- Erin K Jenne, The Central European University"

Author Information

Matthias Basedau, PhD is Director at the GIGA Institute of African Affairs and adjunct Professor at Hamburg University. His research focusses on comparative politics and the causes of violent conflict, in particular regarding the role of ethnicity, political institutions, natural resources, and religion. His main geographical area of interest is sub-Saharan Africa, especially Sahelian countries. Within the framework of the Bertelsmann Transformation Index, he is coordinator for West- and Central Africa. He has published widely on the above mentioned topics, inter alia in the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, and Political Geography. Jonathan Fox, PhD is the Yehuda Avner Professor of Religion and Politics, director of the Religion and State (RAS) project. He has received awards from both the International Studies Association (ISA) the American Political Science Association (APSA) for his research in religion and politics. He is author or editor of fifteen books and over 100 peer-review articles on various topics in religion and politics. Ariel Zellman, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel. His primary research areas include examining how competing national identity narratives contribute to the protraction of international territorial conflicts, the influence of state-religion politics and religious claims on interstate and intrastate conflict, and the impact of white nationalist movements on American Congressional politics. His work has been published in multiple academic journals including American Politics Research, East European Politics, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, Politics and Religion, Religions, Security Studies, and Territory, Politics, Governance.

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