Ethnic Violence

"Ethnic violence," "ethnic hatred," and "ethnic tensions" are all phrases we hear every day in the news. Groups simply hating each other is accepted as a common reason for war. We also hear of "centuries of bloodshed," "traditional ethnic rivalries," and "tribal warfare."

While it is true that violent political conflict often occurs accross ethnic lines, World Bank economist Paul Collier, in his book The Bottom Billion, points out that ethnic groups—even ones that don't get along very well—more often live in harmony than in conflict.

or instance, it is a myth that the Middle East has been a land of unremitting war. The Middle Eastern civilizatons of the Middle Ages included centuries of Sunni, Shia, Christian, Jewish, and other groups living and working peacefully together for centuries.

Politicians can sometimes rise to power on the foment of ethnic hatred, and when mobs believe stories of "the other" and ideologies of ethnically "pure" homelands, then ethnic wars break out. But Collier points out that there is always an underlying economic driver to these wars: a deep analysis shows that ethnicity is more a rationale than a cause of war.

This gives reason for hope, because rational causes for war are addressable. P:5Y works to understand, address, and solve every violent and threatened conflict in effective and long-lasting ways.