Group Inequality and Conflict - Insights for Peace Building - USIP - May 2010

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USIP 2010 All rights rese

Group Inequality and Confict: Some Insights or Peacebuilding

page 2 PB 28 May 10, 2

choose political violence to address injustice. By more ully incorporating group dynamics into

conict management and peacebuilding strategies, we can more eciently target the immediat

drivers o conict and deuse threatening situations.

This Peace Brie will outline ways that inequalities between groups can trigger conicts, policy

measures that reduce the destructive inequalities and steps or sequencing these policies. It will

conclude with recommendations put orth at a public event at the United States Institute o Pea

(USIP) held on February 22, 2010.

Group Dynamics and ConfictGroup Identities

A strong group identity is a vital component o mobilization. Whether group identities are based

on ethnicity, religion, race, caste, class or region, they must have dened and relatively imperme

able boundaries. I groups identities are uid, they will be less easily mobilized or violence, as

group members will maximize their opportunities by switching to the better-o group. This is

one explanation or the lack o race riots in Brazil where blacks have been severely disadvantage

compared to their white and mixed or brown peers. The mixed or brown category made up 43

percent o the population in 1993, while only 5 percent o the population considered themselve

black.4 The racial categories were uid, diluting the threat o group mobilization. Black South

Aricans under apartheid, however, were evaluated and assigned a race by the Race Classicatio

Board, leaving no opportunity or uidity between groups.5 Their organized and widespread

rebellion brought down the apartheid regime in the early 1990s.

Mobilizing Factors

The work o Frances Stewart, leading expert on horizontal inequalities, has shown that there are

dierent mobilizing triggers or leaders and ollowers in rebellion movements. While it is oten

political inequalities that spur leaders to accentuate and rouse group identities to oster rebellioit is more oten the economic and social inequalities that lead group members to ollow. For this

reason, mobilization o violent groups is most likely to occur when there is a conuence o politic

exclusion and economic and social marginalization imposed by one group on another.6

Although inequalities in cultural recognition are important, they are not a critical part o the

analytical ramework or group inequalities and conict. The conict in Northern Ireland, which

was ought between Catholics and Protestants along religious lines, was overlaid on serious and

long-lasting political and socioeconomic inequalities between the two groups.7 The policies mo

eective in ending the conict were those targeted at reducing political and socioeconomic

inequalities between the disadvantaged Catholics and the Protestants, such as strengthening th

Fair Employment Act o 1989 and improving equality in housing and education.8

Scenarios and Outcomes

Just as groups vary, the results o group dynamics vary and may produce either peaceul or

violent outcomes. In some situations the violence maniests in a coup, while in other cases there

rebellion, political violence, riots or increased crime. Most oten, group inequalities t into one o

two scenarios. Either one group is both politically and socioeconomically privileged over anothe

group or one group is politically dominant while the other is socioeconomically advantaged.

One-sided deprivation or simultaneous political and socioeconomic deprivation o one group

has been ound in Mexicos Chiapas state, South Arica under apartheid, the United States, Brazil


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Northern Ireland and Sudan.9 Under apartheid, black South Aricans were disadvantaged both

politically and socioeconomically. They had one-tenth the per capita income o whites and even

less representation in managerial civil service jobs. Their lie expectancy and literacy rates were

also considerably lower than those o white South Aricans.10 Ater peaceul protests ailed to

bring about change, an armed rebellion began in 1976 that persisted until 1990 when changing

international dynamics, economic sanctions and the black resistance contributed to the end othe apartheid regime. Although the blacks continue to be socioeconomically disadvantaged, the

conict ended with political compromise and the South Arican government continues to work

reduce the socioeconomic inequalities peaceully.

Sudan presents another example o one-sided deprivation. The United Nations Development

Program, the agency responsible or measuring the progress o the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs) reports that Southern Sudan is drastically worse o than the North. Ater nearly

a decade o working towards attaining the MDGs, 90 percent o the Southern population is

categorized as living in poverty, compared to 50 percent in the North. Only 20 percent o childre

in the South are enrolled in primary education compared with 62 percent in the North, and rates

o maternal mortality in Southern Sudan are more than three times as high as in the North.11 On

ater decades o civil war has the government in Khartoum made any steps towards including

Southerners in the political institutions o the country.

Shared deprivation with one group that is politically powerul yet socioeconomically deprived

has been ound in Malaysia, South Arica ater apartheid, Uganda, Sri Lanka and Rwanda. In

the case o Malaysia, despite drastic group inequalities at independence that let the majority

Bumiputera population with a severely low level o education, economic assets and opportunitie

relative to the minority ethnic Chinese population, the country was able to implement successu

policies to reduce violence along with the pervasive inequalities. The position o the Bumiputera

as the majority in a country with broadly democratic institutions enabled the implementation

o policies such as quotas, target and armative action with respect to land ownership, public

service employment and ownership o quoted companies.12 During this time, Malaysia experi-

enced record growth, allowing the Chinese to succeed as well. The balance o inequalities betwe

the two groups encouraged a cooperative approach to resolving the issue nonviolently.

Strategic Approaches to Reduce Inequalities between Groupand Build PeacePolicy Categories

I addressed conscientiously, group inequalities, as well as the conict they trigger can be mitigat

Stewart proposes three types o policy interventions to reduce group inequalities: direct, indirect

and integrationist.13 Direct policies include armative action and quotas. These policies are attrac

tive, as they immediately target the disadvantaged population. They are most eective in the shoterm but i incorporated into long-term strategy can serve to calciy group identities, leading to

urther conict down the road. Indirect policies include progressive taxation and antidiscriminatio

legislation. They work well over the long term and ultimately are more likely to reduce a strong

sense o identity dierences. However, these policies are less precise. Finally, integrationist policie

which work to dissolve group boundaries are theoretically attractive, but oten lead to suppres-

sion o inormation about groups and group identities without actually reducing inequalities.

Integrationist policies include bans on political parties dened solely by ethnicity or religion and

requirements or muliticulturalism in schools or other institutions.14 As each category o policies

has dierent strengths, weaknesses and timelines, it is critical that approaches to peacebuilding


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that seek to reduce group inequalities include a combination o direct, indirect and integrationist

policies that address the specic political and socioeconomic inequalities that underlie the conic

and could trigger violence.

Strategic Sequencing

In order to minimize the likelihood o conict, policies should rst address the monopoly on

political power and resulting political exclusion that most oten mobilizes the leadership o a

conict. This could be done by addressing the monopoly on political power through reservation

or under-represented groups in all levels o government and the security sector, citizenship

expansion, enactment o human rights legislation and other measures.15 This would reduce the

immediacy o conict and allow or work on the next step, addressing socioeconomic inequalitie

between groups. Socioeconomic inequalities can be addressed through any o the approaches

outlined above and include policy measures such as employment and education quotas, antidis

crimination legislation, progressive taxation, incentives or inter-group economic activities and

other steps.16

Potential Applications

Sudan and Rwanda, two previously conict-aected states, are once again acing increasing tensio

between groups. Sudans longstanding civil war between the politically and socioeconomically

advantaged North and the poor, yet resource-rich South ended in a peace agreement in 2005. The

Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) addressed political inequalities and bought the country ti

to address the socioeconomic disparities. But many o the initial grievances have not been address

and now that the CPA is expiring, the country is acing the threat o renewed conict.

The 1994 genocide in Rwanda, responsible or the death o more than 500,000 people in less

than 100 days, arguably resulted rom decades o group inequalities. Following the genocide, th

regime o Paul Kagame instituted integrationist policies, orcing the suppression o groupin

this case ethnicidentities. Sixteen years later, tensions run high in Rwanda as ethnic violence

has increased, along with state suppression. It is not the group identities, or even religious ident

ties (such as the greatly publicized Muslim North and Christian South in Sudan) alone that drive

these conicts. It is the combination o political and socioeconomic exclusion, and the ailure to

adequately address the group inequalities that led these two countries into conict initially and

threatens to do it again. In order to eectively diuse these situations, our approaches to develo

ment and peacebuilding in countries like Sudan and Rwanda must reect the power o group

inequalities to cause conict.

Policy Recommendations1. Increase research into group dynamics: There is a need or increased data and research

regarding group dynamics and conict to complement current work on individuals and

conict.

2. Coordinate international assistance to ensure optimal policy sequencing:The many bilateral,

multilateral and nongovernmental organization actors in a conict-aected country should

coordinate their policies to diuse the conict by rst targeting the immediate problem o

political exclusion and then implementing policies to attack socioeconomic inequality.

3. Integrate equality into foreign assistance programs: Equality should be a strong actor in devel-

opment and humanitarian programs, promoting stronger, more stable and more just societies


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United States

nstitute of Peace

200 17th Street NW

Washington, DC 20036

02.457.1700

www.usip.og

about thiS brief

This Peace Brief reects the discus-sion at the USIP public event, WillDecreasing Horizontal InequalitiesReduce the Likelihood of Political

Violence?, held on February 22,2010, featuring leading expert onhorizontal inequalities, FrancesStewart of Oxford University, S.Tjip Walker and Robert Aten ofhe United States Agency for Inter-

national Development (USAID),and Raymond Gilpin, associatevice president of USIPs Center forSustainable Economies. Details ofhis event, including the audio and

Stewarts PowerPoint presentation,are available online: http://www.

usip.org/events/will-addressing-horizontal-inequalities-reduce-he-likelihood-political-violence.

This brief was written by MichelleSwearingen, program assistantor USIPs Center for Sustainable

Economies.

SIP provides the analysis, training andools that prevent and end conicts,romotes stability and professionalizeshe eld of peacebuilding.

or media inquiries, contact the ofcef Public Affairs and Communications,02.429.4725

4. Conduct training and sensitization programs on reducing group inequalities: Increasing educa

tion and awareness about the value o correcting group inequalities will improve policies in

and towards conict-aected countries.

Endnotes1. For the purposes o this paper, we rely on the denition provided by the Centre or Research

on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity in an article written by Arnim Langer, Cultural Status

Inequalities in the August 2006 newsletter. Cultural inequalities can be dened as dierences in rec

ognition and (de acto) hierarchical status o dierent groups cultural norms, customs and practices

2. F. Stewart. Presentation at the U.S. Institute o Peace, Will Addressing Horizontal Inequalities

Decrease the Likelihood o Political Violence? February 22, 2010.

3. Stewart has documented that horizontal inequalities increase the likelihood o conict, whil

Collier & Hoefer and Fearon & Laitin have documented that grievance based on vertical inequa

does not increase the likelihood o conict. Ibid. P. Collier & A. Hoefer. Greed and Grievance in

Civil War.Oxford Economic Papers, 56 (4): 563-595; J.D. Fearon & D.D. Laitin. Ethnicity, Insurgency

and Civil War.American Political Science Review, 97(1): 75-90.

4. F. Stewart. Horizontal Inequalities: A Neglected Dimension o Development. CRISE Working

Paper, p. 30. Centre or Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity, CRISE.

5. BBC World Service. The Story o Arica: Apartheid Law. Retrieved March 19, 2010, rom BBC

World Service: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arica/eatures/storyoarica/12chapter7.shtm



7. Ibid.

8. F. Stewart. Horizontal Inequalities: A Neglected Dimension o Development.CRISE Working

Paper, p. 27. Centre or Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity, CRISE.9. Stewarts research includes Chiapas, South Arica beore and ater apartheid, the United Stat

Brazil, Northern Ireland, Malaysia, Uganda and Sri Lanka.



11. United Nations Development Progamme Sudan. UNDP Sudan: Status o MDGs in Sudan.

Retrieved March 19, 2010, rom UNDP Sudan: http://www.sd.undp.org/mdg_act.htm





14. F. Stewart, G. K. Brown and A. Langer. Policies towards Horizontal Inequalities, in Horizontal

Inequalities and Conict: Understanding Group Violence in Multiethnic Societies. Palgrave

Macmillan, 2008.

15. Ibid, p. 304.

16. Ibid, p. 304.


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Group Inequality and Conflict - Insights for Peace Building - USIP - May 2010

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