Czynnik religijny a konflikty w Afryce Zachodniej

Religious diversity is a permanent feature of the social landscape of West African States. The relatively low level of socio-economic development, the weakness of State institutions, as well as the configured deep in the African culture of tribalism as a feature of local political systems make these countries vulnerable to the processes of destabilizing and troublemaking. Religious differences in this situation become even one element of building a local identity, which in crisis situations become factors in building up negative images of the enemy, leading to the politicization of religion and impeding the functioning of societies undergoing similar divisions. Civil wars in Nigeria and the Ivory Coast, or the expansion of the political forces that refer to the idea of militant Islam, are examples of such processes, which affect negatively the security of individual countries and the region.