Thus, under primordialism, ethnic identity is fixed across time. Ethnic identity is assigned at birth, inherent in human nature, and passed on genealogically from generation to generation. First, a brief reminder of the key assumptions of primordialism and instrumentalism about ethnicity and ethnic conflict is in order.Īccording to primordialists, ethnic conflict fundamentally springs from differences in ethnic identities (Vanhanen 1999 Esteban, Mayoral, and Ray 2012). To illustrate its empirical utility, the integrative model is employed to develop a revisionist account of the genocide and murderous ethnic cleansing in Rwanda and Burundi in the early 1990s.
Upon reiterating that no single theory is robust enough to explain ethnic conflict, Williams (2015, 147) recently called for the development of theoretical models that can explain how the different factors highlighted in extant theories of ethnic conflict ‘interact to trigger ethnic conflict.’ To contribute towards the construction of more balanced accounts of ethnic conflict, this article outlines a model wherein ethnic identity (at the centre of primordialism) and grievances/frustration (at the heart of instrumentalism) interact to increase the probability of ethnic conflict. However, neither theory has adequate explanatory and prescriptive power (Gurr 1994). Extant explanations of ethnic conflict typically fall under two fundamental theories: primordialism and instrumentalism. The Balkans, Chechnya, Ukraine, India, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and most of sub-Saharan Africa, particularly the Great Lakes region, all bear vestiges of the danger of ethnic conflict. Ethnic conflict constitutes a major challenge to international peace and security.
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