What Drives Inter-Religious Violence? Lessons from Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, and Tanzania

Given its religious demography, sub-Saharan Africa seems particularly prone to the outbreak of violent clashes between Christians and Muslims. This article compares three sub-Saharan countries—Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, and Tanzania—that display different levels of inter-religious violence despite each having in common similar population ratios of Christians and Muslims, as well as all sharing a number of the classical risk factors for conflict onset. The analysis of these three case studies shows that higher levels of inter-religious violence result from horizontal inequalities and overlapping religious and ethnic group boundaries that, in the context of tense political transformation, consequently breed inter-religious grievances and violence. When theological ideas become politicized, inter-religious violence reaches its most intense level of expression.