Politics and Policy Studies: Ethnicity, Race and Conflict Analysis

This essay provides a comprehensive comparison and contrast of the primordialist and constructivist views of ethnicity. The primordialist perspective posits that ethnicity is an inherent and immutable characteristic, while the constructivist view argues that ethnicity is socially constructed and subject to change through various societal influences, including migration, colonization, and political processes. The essay explores the implications of these views, examining the construction of ethnicity internally and externally, and the objective aspects of both ethnicity and race. It also discusses the concept of race, its definitions, and its relationship to ethnicity. The essay uses the Rwandan Genocide as a case study to illustrate how ethnic conflict is viewed differently under each perspective. The author concludes that a constructivist approach offers a more nuanced understanding of ethnic conflict by considering historical, social, and political factors. The assignment draws upon relevant literature and provides a critical analysis of these competing perspectives, highlighting the importance of understanding ethnicity in political contexts.

Running head: POLITICS AND POLICY STUDIES: QUESTION 17
Politics and Policy Studies: Question 17
Name of the Student:
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Author Note:

1POLITICS AND POLICY STUDIES: QUESTION 17
17. Compare and contrast the primordialist view of Ethnicity vs. that of a constructivist
view. What does it mean that all ethnicities are constructed? What is race? Are races
also constructed? Aren’t some aspects of ethnicity and race objective? Provide at least
one example of the role of ethnic-based conflict in politics. How this conflict would be
viewed differently if ethnicity were primordial as opposed to being socially constructed?
Ethnicity has been analyzed through many perspectives. The primordialist view of
ethnicity argues that ethnicity is an identity that is assigned by birth and thus is unchangeable.
The view is built on the idea that human beings have some natural connection with people
belonging to the same ethnicity, i.e. people belonging to the same race, religion, language or
geographical location (Isajiw 1999). The primordialist view believes that ethnic identity is
passed through generations and thus, is timeless and fixed. This view define ethnic
differences and conflict as ancestral and irreconcilable which indicates that conflict between
ethnicities are inevitable and ineradicable.
The constructivist view on the other hand is exactly the opposite of this. The
constructivists believe that ethnic identity is socially constructed and migration, colonization
and conquests change ethnic identities. The constructivist takes in to account the impacts of
politics, history, society and economy in the constriction of ethnicity which the primordialist
so not (Nigusie 2018). Moreover, constructivist view ethnicity as fluid and flexible which
means that the ethnic conflicts too, are born out of reasons that are not ancestral hatred.
Constructivists give importance to the role of language, history, symbols and culture as the
source of ethnic rivalry while also giving equal importance to politics, economy and societal
changes. The similarity between the two views is that neither of them gives much information
about the timing of the conflict outbreak.

2POLITICS AND POLICY STUDIES: QUESTION 17
Ethnicity is believed to be constructed whether internally or externally. The internal
construction means the actions and changes that ethnic groups go through within their ethnic
community which reshapes their values, self-definition, cultural beliefs and practices. On the
other hand, external construction can be caused by societal changes, economic influence and
political processes that change the course of internal construction for ethnic groups. In this
regard, all the ethnicities are constructed though their origin may vary.
Race is basically perceived as an inherent quality, biological quality that a person is
born into and thus is unchangeable in human beings (Race: Stanford Encyclopedia Of
Philosophy 2020). The idea of race was built upon some identifiable physical traits, skin
color, height, facial structure and features to distinguish and categorize. Later this idea and
definition of race has been questioned as it has been the basis of much of racial hatred and
superiority theory resulting to mass killing or subjugation. The most modern definition of
race differentiates through genetic structure and composition, a much reliable and scientific
method.
Both race and ethnicity have objective aspects ingrained in it. The most important
among them is the ancestry. As both race and ethnicity is closely related to heredity and
ancestry, they are objective in nature. This is because, ancestry and heredity changes with
social intervention, migration and colonization (Blakemore and Boneham 1994). Union with
people of other race or ethnicity changes the views, beliefs and assumptions that they have
thus changing core values of the particular race. As both race and ethnicity is modified by
social changes, they have objective aspects built into them.
There have been many instances of ethnic conflict all over the world in history.
Among them, the Rwandan Genocide is among one of the most notable ethnic conflict that
left deep impact on the world. The genocide started in 1994 and within 100 days, more than

3POLITICS AND POLICY STUDIES: QUESTION 17
800,000 people were dead. The genocide was started by the Hutu majority population on the
Tutsi minority (Weir 2012). The tension had started since the days of Rwanda’s colonization
when the minority Tutsi were favored by the colonizers which enabled the minorities to
dominate over the majority. In the post-world war II scenario, the Hutu’s were becoming
powerful and were forcing the Tutsis to leave the place. In 1994, the conflict started
regarding a plane crash that was carrying the president of Burundi. Genocide spread all
across the country and many of the Tutsis and the Hutu people died, making this one of the
most horrific massacre.
If ethnicity was viewed only as primordial, this conflict would not have been viewed
with a consideration of colonial influence and political outcome. The anger and tension that
was born between the two groups during the colonial times, reflected during the genocide
(Williams 2015). Moreover, the breakout of the genocide started with a political cause which
would not have happened if ethnicity was primordial. The development of the history of
conflict between the two groups tells that the conflict is borne out of hatred and political
instigation and military intervention which supports the constructivist view of ethnicity.
Thus, ethnicity cannot be seen as primordial and ethnic understanding needs consideration of
social aspects.

4POLITICS AND POLICY STUDIES: QUESTION 17
References
"Race (Stanford Encyclopedia Of Philosophy)". 2020. Plato.Stanford.Edu.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/race/.
Blakemore, Ken, and Margaret Boneham. Age, Race and Ethnicity: A Comparative
Approach. Rethinking Ageing Series. Open University Press, 1900 Frost Road, Suite
101, Bristol, PA 19007 (paperback: ISBN-0-335-19086-3; clothbound: ISBN-0-335-
19234-3); Open University Press, Celtic Court, 22 Ballmoor, Buckingham, England,
United Kingdom MK18 1XW., 1994.
Isajiw, Wsevolod W. "Definition and dimensions of ethnicity: A theoretical
framework." Challenges of measuring an ethnic world: Science, politics and
reality (1993): 407-427.
Nigusie, Alemu Asfaw. "An Integrated Approach to the Study of Ethnicity and Its Relevance
to Ethiopia." Int'l J. Soc. Sci. Stud. 6 (2018): 38.
Weir, Naomi. "Primordialism, constructivism, instrumentalism and Rwanda." Retrieved
September 19th (2012).
Williams, Dodeye Uduak. "How useful are the main existing theories of ethnic
conflict?." Academic journal of interdisciplinary studies 4, no. 1 (2015): 147-147.