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P ULSES RACED as 12th-graders answered maths problems at St Joseph's School in Ganj Basoda, a provincial town in the state of Madhya Pradesh, on December 6th. They faced a tough trial: national board exams that decide who gets into India's best universities. But it was not the scratching of nibs or rustling of answer-sheets that heightened the tension. Midway through the test a crowd could be heard gathering outside, clanging at the gates with wooden clubs. "Who will protect the faith?" they chanted. "We will! We will!" Rocks crashed into the glass-fronted school building, spraying jagged shards across classrooms. Then the mob surged in.

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Opened in 2009 and charging its 1,500 students around $30 a month, St Joseph's is like thousands of other private schools across India. Many carry Christian names merely as a brand, signifying instruction in English, though St Joseph's is indeed run by a branch of the Catholic church. Christians are less than 1% of the population in Madhya Pradesh, and a similar proportion of the school's students. But as Hindu-nationalist extremists warn their co-religionists of trickster Christian missionaries preying on the poor, of handsome Muslims luring unwary women into unsuitable marriages via "love jihad" and of other threats to the faith of four-fifths of Indians, fired-up mobs are seizing their chance to put minorities in their place. In this case the prompt seems to have been rumours that a first communion service for eight Christian children held at a nearby church in late October had in fact been a secret conversion ceremony.

No one was badly hurt at St Joseph's school, which put the property damage at $26,000. Some might argue, too, that there is nothing new about such incidents. Indeed, whereas in past decades sectarian violence sometimes left hundreds or even thousands of Indians dead, its victims now rarely number more than a few dozen a year. Yet what such nastiness has lost in numbers it is gaining in scope and frequency. More disturbing still, given the secular constitution that underpins the world's largest democracy, India's government is increasingly turning a blind eye towards and even actively encouraging majoritarian chauvinism.

Consider some of the events of the past few months. The attack on St Joseph's was not the first, but the third on a Christian-affiliated school in Madhya Pradesh since October. According to United Christian Forum ( UCF), an advocacy group that runs a hotline for Christians targeted for their faith, last year saw a 75% surge in complaints from across India. With 486 reported incidents, 2021 was by far the most violent year since records began in 2014, when the count was 127. On Christmas Day alone Indian media reported seven anti-Christian incidents across the country.

In many instances police appear to have ignored warnings of trouble, to have intervened late (as at St Joseph's), or to have blamed and even arrested those being attacked. UCF notes that although victims filed charges in some 34 cases in 2021, police accepted more than twice as many complaints from aggressors, typically accusing Christians of having broken the laws against religious conversion that a third of India's states have enacted.

India's roughly 200m Muslims provide a far bigger target, and have been subject to a more concerted and wide-ranging offensive. Aside from the headline-capturing lynchings of suspected cow-butchers by vigilante mobs that occur with dismal regularity across the north Indian "Hindi Belt", local extremists have more quietly singled out Muslim-owned businesses, from street hawkers to large corporations, for boycott and harassment. Internet trolls regularly barrage prominent Muslims, particularly women and journalists, with vicious insults. Twice in the past year they have created spurious online "auctions" for the sexual favours of Muslim women who criticise the government, using stolen photos and other web content.

Reporters recently exposed a network of "trads", believers so ultra-traditional that they dismiss Narendra Modi, India's Hindu-nationalist prime minister, as a maulana (Muslim holy man). Their chat sites feature images of Hindus urinating on Muslim corpses, and of altered Nazi propaganda posters that exhort Hindu mothers to produce more "Aryan" children.

In December alone, saffron-robed speakers at religious colloquiums in two Indian cities publicly called on Hindus to take up arms. Ram Balak Das, a monk from the rural state of Chhattisgarh who claims he has killed people to protect cows, roused his audience at one event to join him in cries of "Shoot them, shoot them!" At the other meeting Prabodhanand Giri, leader of the self-styled Hindu Raksha Sena or Hindu Defence Army, called on Hindus to "cleanse" their country just as Myanmar did-a reference to the latter's recent genocide of Muslim Rohingyas.

In response to all this Mr Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) have maintained a telling silence. Under Mr Modi the BJP has increasingly resorted to Muslim-baiting to consolidate Hindu votes that tended previously to divide along lines of caste or ideology. According to an informal count by NDTV, a news channel reputed for sobriety amid a media cacophony of parrots and propagandists, the BJP has been responsible for 297 out of 348 incidents of hate speech by senior politicians since 2014. In the past four months the frequency of such outbursts has jumped 140%.

The approach of elections in five states next month may be one reason why the party is turning up the heat. The BJP is anxious to retain its hold on Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, in advance of the next general election in 2024. The party's saturation advertising has included blunt sectarian content, such as images of Muslims as terrorists, or of opposition politicians dressed in "Muslim" garb. In one speech Yogi Adityanath, the state's chief minister (pictured, left, on previous page), described the vote as being "between the 80% and the 20%", a scarcely veiled reference to Uttar Pradesh's actual religious mix. Amit Shah, India's home minister and Mr Modi's right-hand man, has repeatedly used slurs and insinuations to characterise his party's opponents as Muslims or panderers to Muslims.

But the Modi government's support for sectarian urges goes beyond speech. Minorities of all kinds are woefully rare in central ministries, in security agencies and in BJP-led local governments. Under Mr Modi the government has ceased reporting such statistics as the religious composition of police, or the number of hate crimes. At both the centre and in states it rules, the BJP has pushed government prosecutors to pursue cases against Muslims accused of sectarian troublemaking, but has rarely shown any zeal with Hindus. Speakers who incite violence openly boast that politicians and police will not touch them. The leading group that sponsors thousands of local vigilante squads which frequently target minorities, the Vishva Hindu Parishad is, like the BJP itself, a creation of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS, the "mother ship" of the broader Hindu-nationalist movement.

In the short term, perhaps, this latest lurch towards majoritarian chauvinism may boost the RSS and win a few more votes for the BJP. But the loser from this equation is not just the increasingly fretful fifth of Indians who happen to profess other faiths. It is India itself. ■

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "Playing with fire"

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India's government is ignoring, and sometimes even encouraging, hatred of minorities

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P ULSES RACED as 12th-graders answered maths problems at St Joseph's School in Ganj Basoda, a provincial town in the state of Madhya Pradesh, on December 6th. They faced a tough trial: national board exams that decide who gets into India's best universities.

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Hindu bigots are openly urging Indians to murder Muslims

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And the ruling party does nothing to stop them

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A teaching unit for grade 11/12 social science students

Description

The following teaching unit can be used with the Social Science Global Politics course in the International Baccalaureate (IB) as well as any course exploring the complexity of the challenges we face in the 21st century. The materials provided examine the challenges to forming an inclusive national identity in Bolivia based on respect for all diverse groups. It focuses on the contemporary political developments that helped assert indigenous rights and the pathways taken by the Bolivian state towards pluralism. This unit is comprised of six tasks and offers a unique exploration of identity politics at a time when this has become a polarizing issue across the globe. Learning materials provide opportunities to examine identity politics in a multicultural society and the role of social movements, legal reform and attitudinal shifts in achieving social change. Although originally designed to correspond with IB curriculum, we are expecting that teachers will select the tasks and materials that are most appropriate for their context.

Please note that these materials cover events up until 2019. In order to include more recent events, we recommend supplementing this case study with current articles.

Audience

IB and non-IB teachers of upper-grade secondary (high school) students. This could also be used in the CÉGEP system in Quebec.

Approach

IB teachers are expected to take a case study approach to allow a deep and conceptual understanding of these units.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this unit learners will be able to:

Explain how a specific case study and a specific political issue relate to identity

Apply relevant key concepts, theories and ideas from the core units of analysis to the case

Evaluate the case study from different perspectives and in the wider context of global politics

Generate a self-directed, teacher-supported research process

Synthesize and present conclusions through an oral presentation

Materials

This unit includes the following resources:

An overview which includes the information above, a Summary of Tasks and Works Cited

A student workbook with articles, tasks and activities

A slide presentation that accompanies the workbook and includes media clips (in PowerPoint) * available in PowerPoint format upon request

About this Resource

This unit was originally designed to support the IB Social Science course Global Politics. This teaching unit is related to a research paper on Bolivia commissioned by the Centre, " Diversity and Democracy in Bolivia: Sources of Inclusion in an Indigenous Majority Society," written by Bret Gustafson.

This teaching case study was produced by Vlad Gogelescu, a (former) Global Politics teacher with the International Baccalaureate (IB) in Amsterdam. This work has been developed independently from and is not endorsed by the IB.

Photo credits:
nomadkate/Shutterstock.com
Kath Watson/Shutterstock.com

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Pluralism and Identity in Bolivia: Global Political Challenges - Global Centre for Pluralism

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The following teaching unit can be used with the Social Science Global Politics course in the International Baccalaureate (IB) as well as any course exploring the complexity of the challenges we face in the 21st century. The materials provided examine the challenges to forming an inclusive national identity in Bolivia based on respect for all diverse groups.

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shudder, whether of revulsion or mere embarrassment, tends to precede rational reflection on the topic of immigration, and as often as not replaces it entirely. Xenophobes fear the alien in their midst: the smell of strange cuisines, the presence of other races and the outlandish appearance of foreign garb. Liberals, on the other hand, bristle in reaction to these very same prejudices - which, to be fair, make even many Conservatives squirm. Ukip supporters, described by David Cameron as "closet racists", experience a kind of double shudder at both immigrants and domestic bigots. Ukip voters, so the jibe runs, would like to vote BNP, but shop at M&S; a genteel bashfulness and net-curtain propriety constraining cruder expressions of anti-immigrant sentiment.

The economist Paul Collier aims to introduce a measure of nuance - perhaps, as he recognises, unwanted nuance - into this "toxic" sector of public debate, where "high emotion" inspires "fundamentalists" on both sides of the argument. Liberals, however benign their intentions, turn out to be no less emotive in their predetermined approach to immigration than the small-minded racists and nationalists from whom they recoil. Immigration, Collier contends, has been out of bounds for liberal thinkers: "The only permissible opinion has been to bemoan popular antipathy to it." Postcolonial guilt about historic injustices tends to shape responses to current migration policy, while stifling consideration of wider problems of global poverty.

Collier is the author of a previous book on the "Bottom Billion", and he asks the pertinent question whether migration to the west harms the economic prospects of the very poorest people on the planet. Migration is, Collier argues, not a matter simply of us and them - the host society and the migrants it receives - but a triangular set of relationships, which also includes those "left behind" in the impoverished societies from which migration drains the bright, the ambitious, the entrepreneurial and often - since migration is not cheap - the wealthy. Yet this triangle is far from equilateral, for the immigration policies of rich countries "inadvertently" set emigration rates for the world's poorest societies.

There are of course counterarguments to the assumption that emigration harms poor countries. The remittances sent home by migrants also contribute to the wellbeing of those left behind, and, Collier concludes, at present more than compensate for the brain drain. At present estimates, global remittances amounted to $400bn in 2012 - four times the amount of international aid transfers and equivalent to the scale of inward investment in poorer economies. Besides, other indirect benefits flow from emigration. The exposure of migrants to the culture and institutions of advanced democracies can also feed back as an indirect "brain gain" to the country of origin in the form of pressure for improved standards of governance.

Nevertheless, there are further subtleties - and grotesque ironies - that need to be addressed. Education expenditure in low-income countries with high rates of out-migration - the training of our workers for free, in other words - is unmasked as "a hidden form of aid from the poor to the rich". Why should developing countries bother to subsidise the education of potential emigrants? The case of South Sudan adds a further troubling twist. Skilled emigrants from the war-torn region have now returned, but leave behind their families in the west, to whom they send remittances. Bizarrely, Collier finds that "one of the poorest countries in the world is making net remittances to some of the richest".

Notwithstanding spectacularly perverse outcomes of this kind, migration - up to a point - is good for all concerned, Collier reckons. It certainly provides economic returns to the migrants themselves and helps, on balance, the societies from which they came. Although there are some social costs, it does not - contrary to the claims of extremists - drive down wages for indigenous workers in the host country. The only group that suffers economically from the competition posed by immigrant workers is the previous wave of immigrants. "Moderate migration," Collier concludes, "is modestly advantageous."

The big danger lies in runaway migration. Collier identifies an "acceleration principle" intrinsic to the migration process. While massive emigration does not, it seems, drive up incomes in countries of origin, a growing diaspora of migrants in the host country eases the practicalities of migration, and adds further momentum to the trend. Runaway migration threatens to outpace the absorption of the diaspora in the home country - with worrying social consequences - and will eventually impose the much-touted downward pressure on indigenous wages.

Worse still, the country of origin will also be denuded of its human capital. Haiti, for example, has already lost about 85% of its educated workers. Very poor countries which also happen to be small are acutely vulnerable to the effects of high emigration.

Collier parts company with those economists who champion open-doors migration on the grounds that it maximises "global utility"; that, because the gainers gain so much more than the losers lose, the losers' interests can simply be written off. He argues instead that nations are "legitimate moral units" that must be taken seriously - whether small poor nations, with their intractable and worsening problems, or successful modernised nations. Post-national visionaries forget that it is "the fruits of successful nationhood" that attract migrants in the first place.

Yet mass immigration jeopardises feelings of national solidarity, which in turn seems to drive western societies in a dangerously rightward direction. What Collier terms "mutual regard" - a shared sympathy with one's fellow citizens - is an essential precondition of redistributive taxation. Robert Putnam, the leading American sociologist, has shown that the higher the proportion of immigrants in a community, the lower the levels of trust not only between indigenous and immigrant populations, but also within these groups.

Fraternity, it transpires, is no mere rhetorical flourish, but a necessary adjunct of liberty and equality. Collier asks us to consider transnational forms of redistributive taxation. The EU transfers less than 1% of European income between member states. The Germans, exposed to decades of Europhile cheerleading, still remain reluctant to dig into their pockets to support their fellow Eurocitizens in Greece. Think of international aid as a kind of global mechanism for redistributive taxation: in most major countries it falls below 0.7% of income. Notwithstanding the horrors of ethnic nationalism, nations remain "virtually our only systems for providing public goods".

Collier's book is humane and tinged with poignancy. He writes openly of his own descent from migrants. His grandfather emigrated from rural poverty in the German village of Ernsbach to the mill-town of Bradford, but was caught up in the anti-German xenophobia of the first world war when their shop was attacked by a mob. Collier's keen empathy with both migrants and those left behind informs a cautious prescription - a door neither open nor closed, "but one that is ajar".

Colin Kidd's books include British Identities Before Nationalism.

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Exodus: Immigration and Multiculturalism in the 21st Century by Paul Collier - review

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shudder, whether of revulsion or mere embarrassment, tends to precede rational reflection on the topic of immigration, and as often as not replaces it entirely. Xenophobes fear the alien in their midst: the smell of strange cuisines, the presence of other races and the outlandish appearance of foreign garb.

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Universal Rights v Cultural Relativism.ppt

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A teaching unit for grade 11/12 social science students

Description

The following teaching unit can be used with the Social Science Global Politics course in the International Baccalaureate (IB) as well as any course exploring the complexity of the challenges we face in the 21st century. The materials provided examine the challenges to forming an inclusive national identity in Bolivia based on respect for all diverse groups. It focuses on the contemporary political developments that helped assert indigenous rights and the pathways taken by the Bolivian state towards pluralism. This unit is comprised of six tasks and offers a unique exploration of identity politics at a time when this has become a polarizing issue across the globe. Learning materials provide opportunities to examine identity politics in a multicultural society and the role of social movements, legal reform and attitudinal shifts in achieving social change. Although originally designed to correspond with IB curriculum, we are expecting that teachers will select the tasks and materials that are most appropriate for their context.

Please note that these materials cover events up until 2019. In order to include more recent events, we recommend supplementing this case study with current articles.

Audience

IB and non-IB teachers of upper-grade secondary (high school) students. This could also be used in the CÉGEP system in Quebec.

Approach

IB teachers are expected to take a case study approach to allow a deep and conceptual understanding of these units.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this unit learners will be able to:

Explain how a specific case study and a specific political issue relate to identity

Apply relevant key concepts, theories and ideas from the core units of analysis to the case

Evaluate the case study from different perspectives and in the wider context of global politics

Generate a self-directed, teacher-supported research process

Synthesize and present conclusions through an oral presentation

Materials

This unit includes the following resources:

An overview which includes the information above, a Summary of Tasks and Works Cited

A student workbook with articles, tasks and activities

A slide presentation that accompanies the workbook and includes media clips (in PowerPoint) * available in PowerPoint format upon request

About this Resource

This unit was originally designed to support the IB Social Science course Global Politics. This teaching unit is related to a research paper on Bolivia commissioned by the Centre, " Diversity and Democracy in Bolivia: Sources of Inclusion in an Indigenous Majority Society," written by Bret Gustafson.

This teaching case study was produced by Vlad Gogelescu, a (former) Global Politics teacher with the International Baccalaureate (IB) in Amsterdam. This work has been developed independently from and is not endorsed by the IB.

Photo credits:
nomadkate/Shutterstock.com
Kath Watson/Shutterstock.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Pluralism and Identity in Bolivia: Global Political Challenges - Global Centre for Pluralism

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The following teaching unit can be used with the Social Science Global Politics course in the International Baccalaureate (IB) as well as any course exploring the complexity of the challenges we face in the 21st century. The materials provided examine the challenges to forming an inclusive national identity in Bolivia based on respect for all diverse groups.

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US Warns of Possible Al-Shabaab Terror Attack in Kenya; Issues Alert | | Firstpost Africa | N18G

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https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1QBRS-KwgayF4iPbh-s5rNCkC0DJAzod517LDstI8RIk/edit?slide=id.p#slide=id.p

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https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1buqjrC5afZ6vTc3oSaqVmEDi2V_jLhjVPcYj4g3w0yQ/edit?slide=id.g3a98e3c2390_0_9#slide=id.g3a98e3c2390_0_9

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https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1TQqlRfkVef-vprRlNIuyEqC3y_5I3SpuVYSw9wzG_d0/edit?slide=id.g133f6155f6d_0_30#slide=id.g133f6155f6d_0_30

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Анализ проекта (2)

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The 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

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The 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

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Monochrome Bold Military Global Military Presentation

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Please attach your research plans here.

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Iran and Afghanistan - Research Plan (By Artin)

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Iran and Afghanistan - Research Plan (By Artin)

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kpVnYElPII_W--7ZaznNKB7diyCaxWs1LpVjJwNHrAM/edit?tab=t.0

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Hani Abu Ghali Research Plan - Case study Al shabab

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Elisey- Migration control in the US-Mexico region

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Elisey- Migration control in the US-Mexico region

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Watch the video and answer the questions:

What is enlightened self-interest?

Why is it important, according to P Collier?

Can you criticise his theory?

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Paul Collier on Enlightened Self-Interest

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With reference to Paul Collier's Enlightened Self-Interest and using at least two examples, explain how the theory could help promote sustainability.

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1. Enlightened self interest is the idea that both people or societies act in ways that help others because doing so ultimately benefits themselves too.

2. It’s important because it encourages people to take action on big problems that affect everyone.

3. It doesn’t always work because not everyone thinks about long term benefits or others needs.

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Enlightened self interest can promote sustainability because people or states act in ways that protect the environment while also benefiting themselves. For example, states reducing carbon emissions to prevent climate disasters also protect their own economies from future damage. Similarily, another example is states using renewable energy save money in the long term and improve their public image. This explains that Both countries cutting carbon emissions and companies using renewable energy act sustainably because it benefits others and themselves at the same time, showing that protecting the environment can also serve economic and reputational interests linking to the key concept of interdependence, therefore, Enlightened self-interest can encourage sustainable actions because people and organizations see that helping the environment also helps themselves.

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A teaching unit for grade 11/12 social science students

Description

The following unit can be used with the Social Science Global Politics course in the International Baccalaureate (IB) as well as any course exploring the complexity of the challenges we face in the 21 st century. The materials provided examine to what extent Nigeria's federal model has mitigated group grievances and addressed regional socio-economic inequalities or increased ethnic and religious competition. They focus on the impact of colonialism in creating current intergroup power dynamics, and the role of federalism in managing tensions over resources and representation. The materials also reveal the limits of the federal model in Nigeria: significant economic and educational inequalities between the North and South have persisted, and extremist insurgencies in the North continue to be a threat. This unit is comprised of seven tasks and offers a unique exploration of political power-sharing between several groups in the wake of protracted ethnic violence. Learning materials provide opportunities to examine inequality and development and the role of federalism, ethnicity and institutions in achieving social change and furthering respect for all groups.

Please note that these materials cover events up until 2019. In order to include more recent events, we recommend supplementing this case study with current articles.

Audience

IB and non-IB teachers of upper-grade secondary (high school) students. This could also be used in the CÉGEP system in Quebec.

Approach

IB teachers are expected to take a case study approach to allow a deep and conceptual understanding of these units.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this unit learners will be able to:

Explain how a specific case study relates to inequality and development

Apply relevant key concepts, theories and ideas from the core units of analysis to the case

Evaluate the case study from different perspectives and in the wider context of global politics

Apply a pluralism lens in order to analyze the drivers of inclusion and exclusion in a specific country context

Materials

This unit includes the following resources:

An overview which includes the information above, a Summary of Tasks and Works Cited

A student workbook with articles, tasks and activities

A slide presentation that accompanies the workbook and includes media clips (in PowerPoint) * available in PowerPoint format upon request

About this Resource

This unit was originally designed to support the IB Social Science course Global Politics. This teaching unit is related to a research paper on Nigeria commissioned by the Centre, " Federalism and Group-Based Inequalities in Nigeria," written by Daniel Agbiboa.

This teaching case study was produced by Vlad Gogelescu, a (former) Global Politics teacher with the International Baccalaureate (IB) in Amsterdam. This work has been developed independently from and is not endorsed by the IB.

Photo credits:

Santos Akhilele Aburime/Shutterstock.com
PPT presentation: Tayvay/Shutterstock.com
Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com

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Pluralism and Inequality in Nigeria: Factors Inhibiting and Promoting Development - Global Centre for Pluralism

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The following unit can be used with the Social Science Global Politics course in the International Baccalaureate (IB) as well as any course exploring the complexity of the challenges we face in the 21 st century. The materials provided examine to what extent Nigeria's federal model has mitigated group grievances and addressed regional socio-economic inequalities or increased ethnic and religious competition.

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Colonial legacy / North-South divide – Political

Religious tensions - Social

Unequal economic development and access to basic services - Economic

"Indigene" vs. internal migrant conflicts over land rights - Political, Social

Corruption in state institutions - Political

Competition over oil and natural resources - Economic, Political

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State — A political unit with a defined territory, permanent population, government, and sovereignty recognised by international law.

Nation-State — A state where most of the population shares a common identity (ethnicity, language, culture, history).

Ethnic — A group of people sharing common ancestry, language, culture, or traditions.

Unitary State — A system where all power is held centrally by the national government; no regional governments have independent power.

Federal State — A system where power is divided between a central government and regional governments (states/provinces); regions have some autonomy.

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Challenges to develop in Nigeria:

1)The state is divided into two parts, South and North with different culture, language and limited common history-Social

2) Unequal economic development and access to basic social services-economical

3) Territory conflict between "indigenes" and other Nigerians-Political

4)Corruption and conflict over the spoils of Nigerian resources-political

Exit Ticket:

State-political entity which has defined territory(borders), permanent population, stable government and capacity to interact with other states.(USA, France, UK)

Nation-state- single or multiple nationalities joined together in a formal political union with a same language, and law.(Japan, Sweden)

Ethnic- group of people who share the same language and culture(Latino,Greek)

Unitary state-A state with a central government without an autonomic territories(Russia, France)

Federal state- A state with a division of central authority and consistent units (USA, India)

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Obstacles to Nigeria's Development

Social Ethnic tensions between the Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa Fulani groups fuel ongoing conflict. Religious divisions between Muslim and Christian communities create further instability. Friction also stems from the unequal treatment of indigenous populations versus those considered settlers.

Economic The gap in wealth and opportunity between the North and South remains stark. Access to healthcare and education is far from evenly distributed. Competition over valuable natural resources, particularly oil, continues to drive conflict.

Environmental Oil extraction has led to widespread pollution, damaging local ecosystems and threatening the livelihoods of nearby communities.

Political Colonial-era borders lumped together people of vastly different backgrounds, creating a fragile national identity. Widespread government corruption undermines progress, while rivalry for political influence among ethnic groups deepens divisions.

Exit Ticket: Key Vocabulary

State — A governing body defined by recognized borders and an established government.

Nation-state — A country in which the majority of citizens share a common ethnic identity.

Ethnic — Relating to a group of people united by shared ancestry and cultural traditions.

Unitary State — A system of government in which authority is centralized under a single national body.

Federal State — A system of government in which power is divided and shared across multiple levels, such as national and regional governments.

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1)Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations theory argues that after the end of the Cold War, the main source of global conflict would no longer be ideological or economic differences, but cultural and civilizational differences. Huntington explains that civilizations are large cultural groups that share common elements such as religion, traditions, history, and values. He believed that tensions and conflicts are most likely to occur along “fault lines” where different civilizations meet, for example between Western and Islamic societies. According to this idea, cultural identity becomes the most important factor shaping international politics and conflicts between societies.

2)The conflict in Nigeria can partly be seen as having a civilizational character because it often reflects religious and cultural divisions between groups.  Northern Nigeria is largely Muslim, dominated by the Hausa-Fulani population, while many southern regions such as those of the Yoruba and Igbo are mostly Christian. According to Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations theory, conflicts may occur along cultural and religious “fault lines,” especially between Islamic and other civilizations. These religious differences can sometimes increase political tension and mistrust between regions in Nigeria.  Therefore, some aspects of Nigeria’s conflict appear to support Huntington’s idea of civilizational clashes.

Counterclaim: However, many scholars argue that the conflict in Nigeria is mainly political and economic rather than civilizational. The tensions described in the text are linked to regional inequalities, struggles for political power, and competition over resources such as oil in the Niger Delta. These factors show that conflicts are often caused by state structure, governance, and resource distribution rather than cultural differences alone. As a result, Nigeria’s conflict cannot be fully explained by Huntington’s civilizational theory and is better understood as a combination of political, economic, and historical factors

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Huntington argued that after the Cold War, conflict would no longer be driven by ideology but by cultural and religious identity. He said the world is divided into distinct civilisations, Western, Islamic, Sinic etc. and that the borders between them would become the new flashpoints for war. The more globalisation pushed different cultures together, the more they would resist and clash.

Nigeria's conflict is civilisational

Nigeria sits directly on Huntington's fault line between the Christian and Islamic worlds. For example, the sharia crisis of the early 2000s saw 12 northern states introduce Islamic law, triggering riots and thousands of deaths along the religious divide. This fits Huntington's model because the conflict wasn't about land or money, it was about which civilisation's values would govern the state. Nigeria therefore shows exactly the kind of fault line conflict Huntington predicted.

Counterclaim

The conflict is not civilisational

Despite appearances, Nigeria's violence is driven more by ethnicity and colonial legacy than religion. For example, the Niger Delta conflict pits groups like the Ijaw against the state over oil revenue, with little religious dimension at all. This undermines Huntington because it shows that even in a country often framed as a Christian-Muslim conflict, many of the deepest tensions have nothing to do with civilisation, suggesting his theory is too simplistic to explain Nigeria's complexity.

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1. Outline Clash of Civilizations by Samuel Huntington:

1. Huntington argues that future conflicts will not mainly be about ideology or economics, but between different civilisations. He suggests that divisions like Western, Islamic, and African civilisations will lead to conflict because their beliefs and identities are fundamentally different. These cultural differences are deep-rooted and harder to resolve than political disagreements.

2. The conflict in Nigeria has a civilisational character. Violence between the largely Muslim north and Christian south, including groups like Boko Haram.This reflects Huntington’s idea that conflict occurs along cultural and religious boundaries. The division between Islam and Christianity represents two different civilisations, making the conflict identity-based rather than just political. Therefore, Nigeria’s conflict can be seen as supporting the Clash of Civilisations theory.

3. The conflict in Nigeria is not primarily civilisational.Issues like poverty, corruption, weak governance, and competition over resources (e.g. oil in the Niger Delta). These causes suggest the conflict is driven more by economic and political factors rather than deep cultural differences. This challenges Huntington’s theory by showing that material conditions can be more important than civilisation. Therefore, Nigeria’s conflict is better explained by internal political and economic issues, not civilisational divisions.

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Does the conflict in Nigeria have a “civilizational” character?

Claim:

The conflict in Nigeria has a civilizational character because the country is split by a major cultural line between the Muslim North and the Christian South. For example, these two regions often have serious violent clashes over whether the national legal system should follow religious Sharia law or secular and Western-style laws. This connects to Samuel Huntington’s "Clash of Civilizations" theory, which argues that the world is divided into big cultural groups that will soon fight where they meet. Because Nigeria sits right where the Islamic civilization and the African/Western civilization overlap, the theory suggests that their different beliefs, traditions, and religions make it very difficult for them to live together peacefully. This shows that the trouble in Nigeria isn't just about regular politics, but is also because of the struggle between two different cultures that find it hard to find common ground.

Outline of Clash of Civilizations:

The Clash of Civilizations is a theory by Samuel Huntington suggesting that in the post-Cold War era, global conflicts will mainly be caused by cultural and religious differences rather than political or economic ones.

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Nigeria’s Development Challenges - Drivers of Violence

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Check out this Poster designed by Erika Suzanne Traboulsi.

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1)Huntington's Clash of Civilisations argues that all global conflicts stem from cultural and religious identity rather then ideological or economic differences. The world is divided into Orthodox, Islamic, Japanese, Hindu, Sinic, Buddhist, Western African and Latin American civilizations. The fault lines between them would shape international relationships and serve as the driving force of conflict in the post-Cold War world.

2) The conflict in Nigeria has a civilizational character. There are three main ethnic groups in Nigeria: Hausa-Fulani with Islamic traditions, Igbo with Christian traditions and Yoruba with a mix of Christian and Islamic. According to Huntington, religious identity creates a conflict between different groups. Thus, by different ethnic groups, the conflict in Nigeria has a civilizational character.

However, conflict in Nigeria has more state structural conflict rather than ideological. Nigeria is a federal state what means that it has a division of central authority and consistent units. This allows different regions to create a laws and manufactures by their cultural values and abilities, what creates a competition between different them. Thus, this competition leads to economic development, however it increases a conflict between them either. Thus, federal state structure creates a conflict in Kenya rather than civilizational issues

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3 perspectives on equality

- Liberals argue equality means equal rights and opportunities for everyone.

- Socialists argue equality requires reducing economic differences.

- Conservatives argue too much equality can limit freedom and reward.

2 concerns about the benefits of achieving equality

- It may reduce motivation to work hard if rewards are equal.

- It can be expensive or difficult to fully achieve in practice.

1 question

- Is complete equality actually possible in society?