Our recent CSAE working paper embarks on a project to address precisely that. For that we would require hard evidence which could be interpreted as causal. Even though intuitively appealing, these theories and explanations do little in terms of resolving the issue one way or the other. This could override atypical social motives such as inequality, political repression, and ethno-religious division. For example, access to an oil rig or a mine could provide lucrative financial opportunities to rebel leaders to build and sustain rebel organisations which would encourage armed conflict. Some have argued that armed conflict is often the result of greed rather than grievances. The sketchy and weak evidence have not prevented scholars from speculating on the potential causes of conflict. Yet establishing causality has remained elusive largely due to the obvious limitations associated with cross-country studies and the lack of useful data for Africa.įig 1: A Rebel Guarding an Illegal Diamond Mine in Angola Figure 1 somewhat visualises this narrative whereby a rebel in Angola is seen to be guarding a diamond mine. Chilling examples of conflict in Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sudan and other resource rich regions of Africa often tempts scholars into arguing that resources cause conflict. The competition in Africa appears to be over the revenue generated from scarce natural resources which often leads to violent conflict. Evolutionary biologists have long argued that competition over scarce natural resources is one of the key drivers of violent conflict within and across species.
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