المستخلص: |
When conflict in Africa is the subject matter, a shallow view of the conflict is usually given. One of the most commonly offered explanations for the problem is to blame Africa for being inherently diverse and heterogeneous. Thus, strife commenters tend to concentrate on narrow issues without referring them to the structural-historical evolution of the African continent. By using examples from Northern Ghana, like the system of chieftaincy and chiefdom, the paper asserts that most of the ethnic tensions in Africa can be traced back to the “indirect rule” policy. In effect, the British colonial style created a system of ethnic stratification that fostered an unranked system of stratification. Hence, we propose that the British colonial legacy is certainly connected to both the frequency and the degree of ethnic conflict since unranked systems stimulate competition between ethnic groups, which can easily spiral into disputes.
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