Religion, ethnicity, and the state: A general theory of religion and conflict as applied to ethnic conflict with the state

The existing literature's explanations for the role religion plays in conflict is lacking on many levels including: the small number of theoretical works and theoretically driven studies; the even smaller number of attempts to integrate the existing body of theory on religion and conflict with general conflict theory; and the absence of cross-sectional, large-n, empirical studies. Accordingly, this study is intended to fill these gaps by: assessing the theoretical content of the existing literature; developing a better theory of religion and conflict; applying this theory to the case of conflict between religious ethnic minorities and state governments controlled by dominant ethnic groups; integrating the theory into the body of general theory on ethnic conflict; and testing all of this in a cross-sectional large-n format.; The theory developed here is based on four basic functions of in politics, society and conflict: to provide a value-laden worldview; to supply standards and criteria of behavior based on that worldview; to organize adherents through its institutions; and to legitimate actors actions and institutions.; The data used in this study comes from two sources. The general data on ethnic conflict is from the Minorities at Risk Phase 3 dataset. The data on the religious dimensions of ethnic conflict was collected by this author. The data analysis provides empirical support for the theory of religion and ethnic conflict presented here.