How Holy Wars End: Exploring the Termination Patterns of Conflicts With Religious Dimensions in Asia

Abstract

Conventional wisdom suggests that armed conflicts with religious dimensions are inherently difficult to end. Religious appeals seem to make conflict issues indivisible. Yet, religious conflicts do end. In order to understand this puzzle, there is a need to examine the empirical records of the termination process of these types of armed conflicts. In this study, we argue that there is a potential for conflict resolution of religious conflicts without necessarily requiring concessions on the core beliefs and aspirations. We explore this proposition by examining the empirical pattern of Asian armed conflicts with explicit religious dimensions as stated incompatible positions and scrutinize how they are ended. Our empirical analysis reveals that none of the parties raising religious demands has made concessions on those demands. Yet, in about half of the cases, there are accommodations that do not imply concessions on the religious goals. Based on these findings, the study draws out the potential implications for the debate about the role of religion, armed conflicts, and peaceful resolution.