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HORIZONTAL INEQUALITIES AND COMMUNAL CONFLICTS: THE CASE OF AGULERI AND UMULERI COMMUNITIES OF SOUTH-EASTERN NIGERIA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 October 2011

Ifeanyi Onwuzuruigbo
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Abstract

Intra-state conflicts in Africa have been attributed to various factors such as the end of the Cold War, globalization, sustained population growth, environmental scarcity and violent youth culture. Extracts from these dominant global perspectives, collocated and mixed with the economic crisis thesis at the national level, constitute the mainstream analytical scheme for understanding the proliferation of communal conflicts in Nigeria. However, the relevance of horizontal inequality in accounting for the multitude of communal conflicts in Nigeria has been glossed over by scholars. This article highlights local narratives of inequalities and how they provide impetus for communal conflicts in Aguleri and Umuleri communities of south-eastern Nigeria.

Resumé

On a attribué les conflits intra-étatiques en Afrique à divers facteurs comme la fin de la guerre froide, la mondialisation, la croissance démographique persistante, la rareté des ressources environnementales et la violence culturelle chez les jeunes. Des extraits de ces perspectives globales dominantes, mêlés à la thèse de la crise économique au niveau national, constituent le schéma analytique traditionnel pour comprendre la prolifération des conflits communaux au Nigeria. Néanmoins, la part de l'inégalité horizontale dans l'explication de la multitude de conflits communaux au Nigeria a été escamotée par les savants. Cet article met en lumière des récits locaux d'inégalités et la manière dont ils accentuent les conflits communaux au sein des communautés aguleri et umuleri dans le Sud-Est du Nigeria.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 81 , Issue 4 , November 2011 , pp. 567 - 587
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2011

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