How do power struggles among ethnic leaders trigger violence?

Power struggles among ethnic leaders can trigger violence by serving as a proximate cause for conflict, often described as the actions of "bad leaders" who manipulate group dynamics to achieve political goals.12

These leaders may engage in the following tactics to incite tension:

• Playing the "ethnic card": Leaders invoke ethnicity in situations where it may or may not be relevant, effectively heightening discord between groups.1
• Manipulation and Rhetoric: Elites may utilize hate speech, scapegoating, and the manipulation of mass media to exacerbate existing grievances.3
• Political Mobilization: According to the instrumentalist perspective, leaders use ethnicity as a tool to unify and organize populations to compete for power, resources, or territory.4
• Ideological Disputes: Leaders may engage in disputes over how a country should be organized, which can escalate into broader conflict.1

Ultimately, these elite-level power struggles are particularly dangerous in environments of political uncertainty or economic collapse, where exclusionary national ideologies can flourish and lead to violent outcomes.3