Fault Line Conflicts: Rwanda Genocide, Essay Based On The "Clash Of Civilizations" By Huntignton

RWANDA GENOCIDE, based on the "Clash of civilizations" by Huntington

GLOSSARY

Fault line war: is one that takes place between two or more identity groups
(usually religious or ethnic) from different civilizations.

Core State: are on a global level between the major states of different
civilizations.

Kin state: a national minority living in another country (called the host-state orhome-state).

Realpolitik: refers to politics or diplomacy based primarily on power and on
practical and material factors and considerations, rather than ideological notions
or moralistic or ethical premises.

Civilization: the peoples or nations collectively who have achieved such a
state.

Ethnic group: group of people whose members identify with each other,
through a common heritage,often consisting of a common language, a
common culture (often including a shared religion) and an ideology that
stresses common ancestry or endogamy.

Caste: any rigid system of cultural or social distinctions, “people are
discriminated because of their cast”.

Genocide: the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an
ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.Hutu: Central African ethnic group, the largest of the three ethnic
groups in Burundi and Rwanda.

Tutsi: ethnic group in Central Africa, they are the second largest population of
peoples in Rwanda and Burundi.

INTRODUCTION

To talk about the “Fault line wars” we should know what the “Fault lines” are.

So, what is a “Fault line”? In many dictionaries we can read that these arefractures along the earth’s surface, this means fault lines are the ones joining

the tectonic plates and are in these lines where the earthquakes usually

occur, here where the bonds are weak is the place where the hard and difficult

movements tend to happened, causing great local problems.

Now that we know the meaning of “Fault line” we can think that these wars

are called like thisbecause they occur in places where their systems are weak

and are likely to cause problems or failure. They have a gap of potential and

unavoidable reckless actions and consequences to arrive.

Then what is this phenomenon called “Fault Line Wars”? This is the conflict

that occurs between states of different civilizations or the ones that occur in the

same state but still betweendifferent groups of different civilization, this type of

war resides in the basis of the cultural and religious differences of values.



FAULT LINE CONFLICTS

“Fault line conflicts are on a local level and occur between the adjacent states

belonging to different civilizations or within states that are home to populations

from different civilizations.” (Huntington, 1996). For differentcultures to live

with some other different or not so different one is hard, they tend to create

an unreasonable hate and intolerance between them, and they based these

feelings on the “They are different from us”. (Xenakis, 2002)

According to The clash of civilizations (Huntington, 1996):

may result from a number of causes, such as: relative influence or power

(military oreconomic), discrimination against people from a different civilization,

intervention to protect kinsmen in a different civilization, or different values

and culture, particularly when one civilization attempts to impose its values on

people of a different civilization.”

These conflicts are intense; they expand and rarely find a solution, because

their reasons are based on identity, acultural or religious matter, so, is more

difficult to ignore these facts, because those differences will always be there,

as we have seen it through centuries with the Christians and the Muslims; they

have seen and treated each other as enemies, different from one and other, us

and them; these feelings are intensified with the political ideology of their nation,

if a governor is from...