Inequality as Driver of Conflict

Abstract

The Horn of Africa is a region that faces a number of challenges including fatal conflicts. The root causes of these conflicts are many, inter-related, and complex in nature. The purpose of this chapter is to review and give evidence to inequality as a driver of conflict in the region. Among its findings, the chapter argues that one of the pressing problems in the region is the prevalence of several categories of conflicts that are linked to various forms of inequalities, as well as other root causes that fuel the persistence and continuity of most of them. The reviewed evidence from the two case studies (Kenya and Sudan) show that there is unequal access and distribution of resources such as land, presence of group formation, their mobilization, and the presence of inequalities among them, which might support the hypothesis of inequality-conflict nexus.