Causal Claims and the Study of Ethnic Conflict

Abstract

What does causation mean in conflict studies? Using a sample of published qualitative, article-length studies on the Rwandan and Yugoslav wars, we find a lack of reflexivity over causal claims in scholarship on conflict. Causal language is not as pervasive as expected, asserted cause-effect relationships are rarely fully explicated, and scholars under-explore their causal assumptions. Considering that ideas on causation necessarily condition explanations of conflict, including "ethnic" conflict, this is a major research issue. While there exists a lively debate between different causal narratives regarding the onset of conflict-with studies alternatively stressing "attitudes," "conditions," or both-it stops short of addressing issues at the deeper level of causal understandings. For the most part, studies subscribe to the search for empirical generalization, thus limiting attendant debates to a single model of causation. These findings indicate that conflict studies literature would benefit from greater reflexivity and pluralism with regards to causation, and paying more attention to philosophical debates on the subject. We provide a basic outline of this reflexive agenda.

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