In my round two research I focused on economic reasons. In this chapter I will talk more about political.
Political caused wars is one of the most popular reasons for wars in many nations. What makes war inevitable, is the politicians competitors who have different perspective in leadership position. In politics we’ve got so many opposition with different parties and different agender. During elections, there are a lot of chaos in such areas and even breaks into fight where different people support different politicians.
When one party gets into power, it becomes very difficult for the dominated one to admit hence resulting to rivalry. Politicians heavily value the nations of war and conflict because it is the baseline for politics, in particular, International Relations.(1).Other factors that result to these war is resources, revenge among others(1).
During the colonial period, Africans formed fighting groups against colonial people one being the Mau Mau movement(2).Mau Mau was an organization formed by freedom fighters from Kenya which was led by a leader called Dedans Kimathi. They called themselves the ”Land and Freedom Army” and others Anake-a-Forty(the Forty Group). Most of its members were young men who had undergone circumcision in 1940s,some who had participated in World II. It started in 1947 where they started showing defiance against colonial government by refusing to offer labor in public projects such as construction of ditches and other more. They lived in forests that is, the Aberdares (Nyandarua natural forest) and Mt. Kenya. They used gorilla tactics(attack and escape), to fight the colonialists(2).
Europeans being so powerful, they mistreated Africans and this bred anger and frustrations among them(2). Africans political parties were burnt and their leaders were detained(2).Colonial brutality of killing Africans over flimsy excuses provoked the urge of retaliation(2).Disillusionment of ex-soldiers after World war 1,who hoped to be compensated and get lands and employment but instead their counterparts on the other hand who were the colonialists got(2).
The research suggests that some policies to conclude this, in conflicts-prone countries, is by reducing horizontal inequalities. Examples of horizontal inequalities are participation in government, membership in the army or police among others(3).Democratic institutions must be inclusive at all levels—for example, voting systems should ensure that all major groups are represented in government. The recent constitution adopted for government in Northern Ireland and the proposals for Afghanistan and Burundi are examples of this(3).Policies towards social work, food, banks, universal health care, police, fire services, public transportation and public housing and other social services aim at reducing such imbalances(3).This policies have to be introduced deliberately since action to correct horizontal inequalities has occasionally provoked conflict by people whose privileged position is being weakened.(3)
1.https://www.bartleby.com/essay/The-Causes-Of-War-And-Political-Conflicts-FK6LLTT36Y3W
2.Evolving World (Text book)
3.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1122271/
Hi Jackline,
Your post is very intriguing, and I learned quite a lot! I admit, I don’t know much about African history and the information about the Mau Mau movement in Kenya was really interesting. I will research more about it! On the other hand, I think that for your next posts, using a bit more of pictures that relate to your research might really help to engage the readers and to explain your information.
Sofia B.
Hi too,
Thank you for your comment, am very happy that you got to learn what you didn’t know. I will make sure I’ve used more pictures as you said. Thank you.