Instrumentalização étnica em conflitos: guerra civil Síria, genocídio em Mianmar e terror de estado no Sudão

Abstract

What reasons lead to ethnic instrumentalization in conflicts? There are three main debates regarding ethnic conflicts. Primordialists believe that conflict stems from long-standing hatreds and resentments between ethnic groups with fixed identities, ignoring structural, economic, and political processes in which groups are embedded and conflicts erupt. For epiphenomenalists, ethnic violence is a façade for class antagonism, being only an incidental appearance of struggles for political and economic power. Finally, in the view of constructivists, ethnic conflict would be the result of the construction of contexts that promote associations and generate an environment conducive to ethnic mobilization. From the constructivist perspective, this project aims to understand ethnic mobilization as an instrument in conflicts. For this, a bibliographic review of studies on the conceptualization of ethnicity and the relationship between the nature of ethnic identity and conflict will be used, as well as the comparative method between Syria, Myanmar and Sudan. Thus, from the observation of countries that suffered from similar forms of ethnic instrumentalization, despite being located in different regions of the globe - the Middle East, Asia and Africa; confront different types of political violence - civil war, genocide and state terror; and being in different political contexts, it is hypothesized that mobilizers instrumentalize ethnicity because ethnic groups have more reasons, opportunities and incentives for engagement and adherence due to: (1) filing greater complaints against the State or status quo when it is not favorable to them, especially if governed by a divergent ethnic group; (2) have greater organization and support due to identity affinities and territorial proximities; and (3) tend to be less flexible in negotiations.