Africa: Contested politics in Africa: the state, identity and resources - New study

This brief examines the state, identity politics, and the struggle for resources in Africa. It contends that identity politics obscures the real reason behind exclusionary practices, namely the struggle for and access to resources. It uses the recent conflicts in Côte d’Ivoire, Sudan and Chad to illustrate how initial identity tensions laid the foundation for a struggle for access to resources that has re-ignited violence in those
societies.