Prior to beginning work on this assignment review the web pages The World Factbook (Links to an external site.) and Global Conflict Tracker (Links to an external site.). There are also several web pages and websites listed under Recommended Resources in the Course Guide that can assist you in gathering additional information.

Social scientists have long sought to better explain the dynamics of ethnic conflict and racial violence. Violent ethnic conflict is rarely, if ever, caused by ethnic differences alone. Frequently, there are structural foundations of the conflict, including political, social, economic and/or religious inequalities. However, at the same time, in ethnic conflicts participants regard themselves as distinct ethnic groups from opposing factions. Often, opposing sides explicitly emphasize their racial, religious, and cultural differences as a conflict strategy. This is a very interesting time to study the causes and consequences of ethnic conflict as today we can see many tensions that have escalated to violent conflicts.

For this assignment, select from the list of ethnic conflicts provided below and evaluate its causes and consequences:

• Chechnya/Russia
• China/Tibet
• Former Yugoslavia (Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia)
• India/Pakistan
• Israel/Palestine
• Myanmar
• Nigeria
• South Sudan
• Syria
• Ukraine

Then, be sure to thoroughly describe the different ethnic groups involved in the conflict (including any cultural similarities between the groups), the source of the tensions that led to violence between them (paying attention to structural inequalities as causes), and describe how the ethnic conflict has affected the country (or countries). Additionally, explain how the social construction of ethnic divisions can be seen in the case of your selected ethnic conflict.

NOTE: If you would like to select a different ethnic conflict, please contact your instructor for approval before submitting the assignment.

The Global Ethnic Conflicts paper

• Must be five double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.) resource.
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted

For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).

• Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
• Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
  • For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.

• Must use at least two scholarly sources in addition to the course text.
  • The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.

• Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide.
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.