S1 Ep3: Identity politics and the political marketplace

Conflict Zone from the LSE

It is commonplace to see inter-communal, religious or ethnic conflict as an important factor in war ravaged countries. But the discussion of these features are often crude and one-sided. Tribal, clan or religious based identities, for example, are frequently cast as the only significant factor.
To overcome this, the Conflict Research Programme investigates the holistic relationship between different, interconnected logics: a political marketplace condition where politics becomes a question of buying and selling support, and the role of exclusivist identity politics as a means to legitimacy for armed groups. The intersection of these elements is fuelled and sustained by violent conflict.
In this podcast, we investigate the relationship between political marketplace conditions and organised violence in Iraq and Syria. We also review the political history of post-1991 Ethiopia and ask if it's undergoing a transformation from a developmental state to a political marketplace one. And we consider what the necessary ingredients are to move beyond these violent logics of conflict.
Featuring professor Alex de Waal (Tufts University and LSE), Mulugeta Berhe, former Ethiopian freedom fighter and research fellow at Tufts University, Rim Turkmani, the director of the Syria Research Programme, LSE, and Jessica Watkins, researcher at the Middle East Centre, LSE.
This podcast series has been funded by the UK Department of International Development as part of the Conflict Research Programme.
Producers: Luke Cooper, Azaria Morgan
Sound editor: Ben Higgins Millner
Intro music: The Drama by Rafael Krux (used for education purposes under Creative Commons License).