Explanatory approaches to ethnic conflicts

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Lecturer, Department of Political Science - Faculty of Economics and Political Science - Alexandria University

Abstract

The study aims to answer two main questions: What are the main statements of the interpretive approaches to ethnic conflicts? Have these approaches succeeded in explaining these conflicts? The study concluded with the proponents of the initial entrance explaining the emergence of ethnic conflicts in relation to the initial dimensions, as the study concluded that supporters of the systematic entrance emphasize the importance of the economic, political and international environment, and the study found that political elites and leaders of ethnic groups exploit ethnic identities as a tool to achieve their political goals as the source of the outbreak of ethnic conflicts, according to the entrance of the political contractor. The study also ended up explaining the emergence of ethnic conflicts according to the approach of competition, due to competition between ethnic groups over different resources. The study concluded that explaining the emergence of ethnic conflicts requires adopting a methodology based on the integration of these different approaches.

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