Jonathan Fox's new work provides the first systematic, empirical study of the role that religion plays in ethnic violence. Ethnoreligious Conflict in the Late Twentieth Century critiques the existing literature on religion and ethnic conflict, then presents and analyzes original quantitative data gathered from a variety of sources. Fox draws upon the Minorities at Risk model of ethnic conflict to develop and test a dynamic and comprehensive theory of religion and conflict. He applies this theory to resurgent conflicts between ethnic groups of different religions—from the Iranian revolution and the Afghan struggle against the Soviets in the 1980s to the ongoing Middle East conflict—to pinpoint the ways in which religion has become intertwined in, and lent legitimacy to, conflicts in the contemporary world.
