Sample Research Proposal on Potential Factors Leading to Conflict as Illustrated in Iraq

Background             Post 9/11 America showed the US government bent towards the reassertion of the integrity of the American nation after its sovereignty has been breached by terrorist attacks on its own territory. The terrorist attacks were attributed to Islamic fundamentalism espoused by anti-western imperialist groups such as the Al Qaeda network.[1] However, as the war against terrorism continued, the US government expanded its military 'defensive' action to encompass Islamic fundamentalism through the launch of preemptive war in Iraq but sending a strong message throughout other predominantly Muslim countries. While the international battle against international terrorism has not been put to question, the preemptive war against Islamic fundamentalism has been subject to debate in the international political arena. Advocates of the preemptive war cite Article 51 of the UN Charter providing for the right of states to self-defense against armed attacks and allowing for defensive actions until the Security Council deals with the matter. Iraq's alleged nuclear weapons were considered a threat to the national security of the United States because of its anti-western ideology justifying the self-defense based preemptive war launched by the United States against the country. Critiques of the preemptive war provide that targeting the wider sphere of Islamic fundamentalism instead of focusing on terrorism is uncalled for because there is no sufficient justification for unifying Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism or even equivocating Islam and terrorism. The war launched by the United States government against Islamic fundamentalism has greatly impacted Iraq. This has also affected Muslim communities around the world.[2]   Research Problem             The continuing US-led fight against Islamic fundamentalism has affected Muslim communities around the world. The research investigates the nature, characteristics and extent of the effect of the preemptive action against Islamic fundamentalism to Muslim communities across the globe in the context of the Iraqi experience relative to the religious differences between the Sunni and Shiite religious sects that influenced and shaped the conflict in Iraq.   Significance             As the preemptive war against Islamic fundamentalism persists, the debate over the morality and legality of this US-led action remains unsettled. The research would provide informational support as contribution to academic efforts to clarify the various aspects of the issue in order to develop policy recommendations on the persisting preemptive war against Islamic fundamentalism recognized to have effects on Muslim communities. The study seeks to elicit information on an area that lacks research but has great implications to the future dynamics of Islamic fundamentalism in international relations.   Review of Related Literature     Definition of Islamic Fundamentalism             Islamic fundamentalism is the religious ideology pertaining to the advocacy of the literalistic or unadulterated interpretation of the Qur'an In the context of the political and social movements in the Islamic world, Islamic fundamentalism propounds the belief that problems arise from society's deviation to secularism.. This implies that the solution to these problems cover the return to fundamentalism or strict compliance with the literalistic and unadulterated understanding and compliance with Islamic sacred teachings.    Perspectives on the Effects of Islamic Fundamentalism From the perspective of states having significant pockets of Muslim communities, the continuing war against Islamic fundamentalism could result to breach in domestic security and economic instability. This is the reason why India and Pakistan have distanced from the US-led war against Islamic fundamentalism despite their recognition of the United States as an important political and economic ally. Their participation in the war against Islamic fundamentalism could stir uprising in the more than 120 million Muslims living in India and Pakistan because of the incessant media portrayal of Muslims and Islamic fundamentalists as terrorists. A civil conflict of this proportion could render the governments unstable that could result to the overthrowing of current political leaders. Political instability in these countries would negatively affect economic activities resulting to the flight of foreign investments and losses in domestic businesses, comprising consequences that these countries are not willing to risk.             From the perspective of Muslim communities, the most blatant effect of the U.S. fights against Islamic fundamentalism is the sowing of stereotyping among cultural groups and communities because of the barrage of negative media portrayals of Islam. The continued linking of Islam and Islamic fundamentalism to terrorism has created a negative image for Muslim communities. The result is the development of a disparity in the definition of Islamic fundamentalism in western and Muslim communities. Among Muslims, Islamic fundamentalism refers to the movement to reinforce Islamic values and the rule of Shari'a law amidst the growing influence of western ideologies, inconsistent with Mohammedan teachings. Islamic fundamentalism has been expressed in predominantly Muslim countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, North Africa and Pakistan, although in varying degrees of fundamentalism and areas of implementation. The goal of Islamic fundamentalism is the achievement of social justice through the application of the teachings of Islam.             The long-term move of Muslim countries to reassert Islam and Islamic teachings in political governance and societal life has been perceived by western governments as Islamic fundamentalism. With the intensification of the US-led preemptive war against Islamic fundamentalism, the movement has been linked to images of terrorist activities such as hostage takings, siege of embassies, hijackings, and suicide bombings. This created a negative image of Islamic fundamentalism and Islam to the extent that Muslim communities experienced various forms of discrimination and violence.             Muslim communities have experienced the consequences of stereotyping. Muslims experience discrimination in the areas of employment and housing. In the workplace, Muslim employees may experience threats from co-workers and employers with strong reactions towards terrorism. Some find it difficult to find jobs because some employers perceive them differently, employers may hesitate to hire Muslims as employees, or employers may impose different standards and requirements towards Muslims. In terms of housing, some Muslim families and communities find it difficult to seek the approval of zoning boards and even neighbors to in establishing places of worship. Muslims also experience varying levels of violence from harassment to assault and even death.   Sunni-Shiite Religious Differences Relative to Islamic Fundamentalism             The US intervention in Iraq is dubbed as the war on terrorism, which is based on a radical expression of the religious doctrine of Islamic fundamentalism. Terrorism comprises the active rejection and defiance of western-based secularism that is believed to be adversely affecting Muslim communities. Due to the religious foundations of terrorism, investigating Islamic fundamentalism in Iraq would provide explanations on the particular facets of this religious doctrine that causes Islamic groups to resort to terrorist acts that eventually led to the US reprisal through its fight against the Islamic fundamentalist based terrorism.                Religious differences in the two major Islamic sects in Iraq, the Sunni and Shiite Islamic sects, determines the groups likely and the religious beliefs of the groups that strictly advocates Islamic fundamentalism reinforcing the possibility of the group to resort to religion-based conflict in the domestic and international sphere. There are three major religious differences between the beliefs of the Sunnis and Shiites. One religious difference is the perspective on religious leadership. The Sunni sect conforms to the Hanafi doctrine and adheres to the precedent teachings of Mohammed. This group then constitutes the traditional or orthodox Muslims more inclined towards Islamic fundamentalism. The Shiite sect adheres to the teachings of Imam Ali, the protégé of Mohammed and the claimed rightful successor to the prophet. Although both religious groups believe that the successors or the four caliphates comprising the heirs of Mohammed are recognized as legitimate religious leaders, the disappearance of the twelfth Imam received different responses from the two groups. The Sunnis believe that the rule of the caliphate ended with the fall of the Ottoman Empire so that Sunni communities sought to establish alternative leadership to the caliphate while the Shiites perceive themselves to be without a legitimate religious leader and await the return of the rightful Imam. In the context of the religious causes of conflict, the Sunnis have tried to establish alternative forms of leadership while the Shiites refuse to recognize any other legitimate leadership other than the heirs of Mohammed resulting to the self-governance for decades. In the domestic scene, the Shiites refuse to recognize the leadership of people who are not heirs possibly resulting to resistance while in the international arena, efforts to establish leadership, which in their view is not legitimate would be defied. Different beliefs on the legitimacy of leadership led to variances in perspective.    The second religious difference between the beliefs of the Sunnis and Shiites is the arrival of the Mahdi the guided individual tasked to establish a just caliphate that brings together state and religious governance under a single leadership. For the Sunnis, the Mahdi has yet to arrive while for the Shiites, the Mahdi has already arrived and they are awaiting the reemergence of the indiviidual.  In the context of the religious basis of conflict, the different beliefs mean that the Mahdi recognized by one group would not be recognized by the other group resulting to defiance of the leadership established by the recognized Mahdi of one sect by the other sect. This means that there would always be conflicts in governance in a country such as Iraq that hosts both the Sunni and Shiite sects.             The third religious difference between the Sunnis and Shiites is the dynamics of population distribution relative to political representation in the Arab world and in Iraq. In the Arab world, the Sunnis comprise the majority population but in Iraq, the Shiites comprise the majority population. Despite the bigger Shiite population, Sunnis held the top leadership for several decades now Despite the presence of Shiite representatives, governance was strongly held by Saddam resulting to the proliferation of the values derived from Sunni beliefs. This implies that in the context of conflict, the lack of de facto representation of Shiites in governance breeds resentment and defiance of top leadership.             The fourth religious difference is the political direction that these religious movements have followed throughout history. The Shiites and Sunnis have been the prominent parties in eight revolts occurring throughout the history of Iraq. The side taken by these religious sects depended upon the context of the situation relative to each other. In one revolt, the Shiites and Sunnis set aside their differences to fight against the British rule. The remaining revolt involved these two religious sects pitted against each other or supporting the enemies of the other with the Shiites assuming a pacifist role and the Sunnis taking on an aggressive role.  In 2003, the world yet again observed the difference in the direction of these two religious sects with the Shiite pacifists supporting the US occupation of Iraq and the Sunnis holding military action against the US forces. The root of the Shiite support for the US forces and against the Sunni-led government are caused by economic deprivations, political exclusion as well as their quest for the assertion of their identity, status and actualization. These differences mean that the differences in religious tradition together with the expression of variances in religious tradition into the political dynamics of minority and majority in terms of population, economic control and political power comprise factors resulting to the conflict between these two religious sects.     Perspectives on Religion and Conflict             These religious differences could potentially cause strife or conflict. The link between differences in religious beliefs and conflict finds support directly and indirectly from several relevant researches. Schwartz and Huismans conducted research to test the hypothesis that religiosity results to the greater importance accorded to values among Israeli Jews, Spanish Roman Catholics, Dutch Calvinist Protestants and Greek Orthodox. The study provides that generally, higher significance accorded to values exists among participants with greater degrees of religiosity. Concurrently, Harper and Clancy provide that strong values include advocacy of peace so religiosity breeds peace.             Conflict from religious differences arises in varying degrees and for different reasons such as the perceptions of groups with different beliefs over other groups. Tabory studied the relationship between religious and non-religious young people in Israel and determined that the general relationship and perception of religious and non-religious groups towards each other is animosity. Religious groups regard themselves in a more positive light relative to their view of non-religious young people. Non-religious participants regard themselves as having greater tolerance of religious groups compared to the tolerance of religious groups of non-religious groups but non-religious groups also view religion in a positive light. Research results imply that as long as religion and religious beliefs are viewed in a positive light minimize conflict due to tolerance.             Despite the presence of researches linking religion ands values, Fox provides that there is no strong agreement among researches over the influence of religion in ethnic conflict since there are researches providing for the strong link between variances in religious beliefs and conflict while there are other researches showing the independence of ethnic conflict from religious beliefs. This means more research is required to investigate the nature and extent of the relationship between religious differences and conflict in the context of the Sunni-Shiite Muslim sects in Iraq.   Religious Differences & Conflict Humphreys, Posner and Weinstein[ conducted a study to determine the relationship between ethnic identity, collective action and conflict. Ethnic identity is constituted by ethnicity, region and religious affiliation. The study is based on the premise that ethnicity is a basis of political violence because of the ability of ethnicity, including religion, to catalyze collective action. However, there are different views on the manner that ethnicity catalyzes collective action. One approach explains that collective action occurs when ethnicity structures individual preferences towards assigning great value to group welfare. Another approach explains ethnicity as causing collective action by providing a tool with which people socially interact fostering cooperation. Still another approach is the ability of ethnicity to develop social institutions that catalyze collective action through the exchange of information on reputations, sanctions, expectations and reciprocal relationships. Lastly, ethnicity catalyzes collective action by serving as basis for the coordination of attitudes and behaviors inclusive and exclusive of other people. The research intends to test the link between these factors and validate any, one, some or all of these approaches.             The study used the experimental design to test these approaches in Uganda. The reason for choosing Uganda is that the country is highly politicized resulting to decades of armed conflict. Since the topic of the study is ethnicity and not largely on politics, this would draw the participation of the Ugandans. Moreover, Uganda holds distinct regional ethnic segregations making it a fitting place to study the relationship between ethnicity, collective feat and conflict.                  The experimental study involved two stages. The first stage involved the purposive selection of representative samples of the country's ethnic composition. Every individual was videotaped and compiled in the computer. One hundred fifty people were selected from students, teachers and staff of the Makerere University but ensuring representation of the different ethnic regions. Selection follows an investigation into the ethnic background of students, teachers and staff at the university. Videotaping involved six images including a head shot, full body shot, shot while speaking in English, shot while giving their names, a shot while providing a convincing statement to fellow members of the ethnic group, and a shot where the participants convince other members of ethnic groups that they belong to a particular ethnic group.             The second stage involved visits to the different ethnic regions to ask randomly selected respondents to identify the ethnic affiliation of the people in the video. Five hundred respondents were taken for the second stage. An average of seven respondents was asked to identify people in the video. After viewing the images, respondents were asked questions on the ethnic identity of the individual they see on screen. Ethnic identity determination proceeds with questions on the major ethnic group with which the individual is affiliated together with the extent of certainty, the sub-group ethnic affiliation coupled with the degree of affiliation, the region where they perceive the individual to have originated together with the degree of certainty, and the perceived religious affiliation of the individual. Responses are recorded. After the identification process, participants are asked to provide information on demographic characteristics and ethnic background. This is followed by the solicitation of information on the participant's perception and knowledge about the ethnic identities in Uganda. They were asked to list the different ethnic groups in Uganda and rank these in terms of importance and size. Then the respondents were asked to rank the identified ethnic groups in terms of their feelings towards these other ethnic groups and sub-groups. They were also asked on their perception of the economic standing of the ethnic groups where they belong relative to the other ethnic groups. The last question is on their perception on whether the Ugandan government favors one ethnic group over the others.              Results of the study showed insight into two core issues. First issue is on the extent that respondents are able to identify the ethnic backgrounds of the individuals in the video in relation to their socio-economic backgrounds. Results showed that their perception of their socio-economic background and that of their ethnic group constitutes a significant factor in identifying the ethnic affiliation of the individuals in the video. They consider physical manifestations of their perceptions of the socio-economic backgrounds of different ethnic groups and compare that with the physical manifestations of socio-economic characteristics of the individual on the video. This implies that the physical or material manifestations of ethnicity serves as factors used in identifying individuals as belonging to their own or another ethnic group.             The second issue is on their perceptions of the importance and size of their own and other ethnic groups. Individuals providing a high rating on the importance and size of ethnic groups also are more attuned to ethnic differentiation. The respondents who attach greater importance to their ethnic group and significance to the size of their ethnic group affiliation are the respondents who were more successful in identifying the ethnic affiliation of the individuals in the video, especially the individuals belonging to their own ethnic group. These respondents are also most likely to engage in collective action because of their stronger links to their own ethnic group.             In relation to the three elements of ethnic identity, which are ethnicity, region and religious affiliation, there is a strong link between ethnicity and region with ethnic identity because factors used in identifying individuals were based on the perceived physical manifestations of the different region-based ethnic groupings. However, religious manifestations contribute to ethnic identity only in instances where religious affiliation holds distinct physical manifestations. Overall, strong ethnic identity is positive linked to collective action. The relationship between collective action and conflict is determined by the nature of the collective perception of one ethnic group over the status of another ethnic group, as posing a threat to the interests of the group in terms of territorial or economic control and political representation.             In relation to the current study, the study showed that religion as part of ethnic identity is linked to conflict through the nature and extent of collective action that develops based on this common aspect of ethnic identity. If religion becomes a strong marker of ethnic identity and ethnic identity is strong enough to catalyze collective action, then the existence of hostile perceptions over other ethnic groups determines the development of conflict.   Burroughs and Rindfleisch[conducted a study on the relationship of materialism and well-being with conflicting values perspectives as the intervening variable. The purpose of the research was to determine the relationship of materialism with well-being in the context of the value systems of individuals since most of the researches focused only on materialism and well-being without considering the values that influence the relationship. Value system involves religious values that determine the level of materialism that in turn affects well-being. The study proceeds to meet this research problem by testing the theory that individual orientation covering material values is in conflict with collective-based values that include religious and family values. This situation of conflicting values leads to psychological tension, which in turn is linked to a minimization of the perception and feeling of well-being. The study utilized two methods, a survey of 373 adults in different US states together with an experimental study involving 120 university students to find support for the conflicting values perspective. The experimental study was conducted to implement a more open test of conflict in values through the assessment of the level that alternative value profiles are directly linked to value conflict. This means that the experimental aspect of the study looked into conflict in internal values, which is divergent from the focus of the survey method of looking at anxiety and stress as signs of values conflict. The experiment puts the research participants in settings where they face different value-based options. The research participants were 120 individuals, 48 percent of which were female and 62 percent of which were males. The respondents had an average age of 21.  In the experimental setting, the participants were made to answer two questionnaires that were ostensibly unrelated. The procedures were designed to give the participants the impression that they were involved in two distinct studies. One questionnaire contained measures for materialism including work values and religious values. The other questionnaire presented the participants with two hypothetical scenarios they could possibly face. The first scenario involved the issue of materialism and work values while the second scenario was made to raise the issue of materialism and work values. After reading and understanding the scenarios, participants were requested to provide written answers to questions phrased to be open ended. The first open-ended question is "Please describe in as much detail as you can how you would handle this situation and what decision you would ultimately reach?" and the second question is "Please describe what you would be thinking and feeling as you made your decision, including your rationale as well as any beliefs or other factors that would influence your decision?". These questions were intended to derive a deep analysis of the hypothetical situation. The degree of conflict experienced by the participants in arriving at their decision was captured through a multi-item measure for internal values conflict that the participants filled-up after completing their responses. In total, completing the two questionnaires took up around 20 minutes of the participants' time. If the conceptualization of the variable values conflict is legitimate, the degree of conflict in values felt by the respondents in relation to the religious setting would be greatest for participants with high levels of materialism and religiosity while there would be no conflict in considering materialism with work values. To ensure that the scenarios adequately tap into the value conditions intended to be measured, manipulation check was achieved through the after-scenario exposure questionnaire. This instrument made the participants rate—based on a ten point scale with one representing not at all and ten meaning involved—the degree that the scenarios were considered to be linked to 1) issues of materialism such as spending money and owning nice things, 2) issues of religion such as church attendance, praying and spirituality, and 3) issues of work such as work ethic and career advancement. Results showed that the participants facing the religious scenario had relatively higher scores in both materialism and religious issues with a measure of 7.14 points and 7.77 points respectively based on the ten point scale. The participants facing the work scenario had higher scores in both materialism and work issues with a measure of 6.38 points and 7.75 points respectively and low scores in the religious issues with a measure of 3.89 points. In determining data validity, the research evaluated dimensionality of the values conflict measures used in the study by using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The principal components procedure shows that the scale used in the study is unidimensional, which means that all nine items strongly weigh on one factor with an eigenvalue of p 6.02 and average loading of p .81. This implies that value conflict is treated as unidimensional construct. After this, the research also utilized confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to evaluate the discriminant validity and dimensional factor of the multi-item measures that include value conflict. The research formed six composite indicators of materialism, two composite indicators of religious values, two composite indicators of work values, and three composite indicators of value conflict. Using LISREL model showed that the measures used in the research demonstrates a high degree of fit indicating that data gathered significantly match the underlying structure of all the constructs. The utilization of the experimental method and the concurrent results hold several implications to the current study. First is the need to determine the constructs in measuring the influence of religious differences to conflict. Religious differences may be studied through spirituality, church attendance or prayerfulness as used in the experimental study discussed above. Conflict based on religious differences is measured through the possible manifestations of the conflict similar to the values conflict measured in the study discussed above. Possible manifestations of conflict based on religious differences include tolerance and discrimination. Second is the need to ensure the validity of the measures and instruments used in the study. This is achieved by testing the strength of the relationship between the variables as well as the degree that the measures and instruments test the relationship of the variables. In the given study, the strength of the relationship between religious differences and conflict as well as the degree that the treatment tests the relationship between religious differences and conflict are determined through the relevant statistical analyses. Third is the critical process of data treatment and analyses to derive implications to the research. Apart from utilizing the appropriate research method, there should also be an appropriate data analysis method to measure the nature and extent of relationships between or among variables. Schaller and Abeysinghe conducted an experimental study of intergroup attitudes between the various ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. The research was based on the goal of investigating the difference in attitudes in instances where an ethnic group constitutes a local majority in a country but a minority in the wider geographic unit such as a region. The psychological implications arising from this difference in perspective might influence the intergroup conflict. To investigate this phenomenon, the experiment was accomplished in Sri Lanka following a ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil rebel forces. Experiment participants were constituted by one hundred Sinhalese students. The experiment commenced with the introduction of the experimental manipulation constituted by two maps representing different scale of geography with one map showing just the map of Sri Lanka and the other map showing the South Asian region including Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh. In Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese constitute the majority group while in the South Asian region the Tamils comprise the majority ethnic group. After introducing the manipulation, attitudes on conflict-relevant attitudes and stereotypes were assessed. The results of the experiment showed that when the Sinhalese participants hold the view that they are the minority group, they tend to have a demonizing perception of the majority ethnic group so that the conflict-relevant attitudes become less conciliatory. This means that ethnic conflict has strong links to the perceptions of an ethnic group of its minority status relative to a majority ethnic group. In conducting the experiment, two variables were manipulated. First is the map manipulation and second is the questionnaire evaluating the impressions of the participants over cultural stereotypes of both Sinhalese and Tamils. These two variables were then crossed through a factorial analysis. In terms of the participants, the one hundred high school students belonging to the Sinhalese ethnic group constituted sufficient demographic representation of the population in terms of gender, age group, and economic class. The experiment was held in four classrooms with twenty students per classroom. All the participants were issued similar instructions and manipulation materials. The experiment proper involved the presentation of participants of the two maps. Half of the respondents were shown the map of Sri Lanka while the other half viewed the map of South Asia. The maps showed only outlines of the geographic mass of the country and the region without indicating the name of the country or the countries in the region. In the maps are black dots indicating the location of ten cities without labels. The names of the ten cities were presented separately. In the map of Sri Lanka, ten cities were within the country while in the regional map eight of the ten cities were located in India, one is located in Sri Lanka, and the remaining one city is located in the Eelam region where disputes between Sinhalese and Tamils are strong. The participants were then asked to identity the cities represented by the dots by selecting from the list of city names. After marking the maps, the participants were directed to provide a rough estimation of the ethnic diversity of the people residing in the areas shown in the map. The determination of ethnic diversity was done through percentage estimates of the representations of the six ethnic groups, including Sinhalese, Tamils, Burghers, Sikhs and Europeans. The percentages of the ratio of Sinhalese relative to Tamils served as manipulation check. The second part of the experiment is the floating of questionnaire to assess attitudes toward five socio-political issues. First issue involved promotion of birth control modes in Sri Lanka, which is not linked to the ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese and Tamils. The remaining four issues are linked to the conflict. Second issue involves the attitude of the participants toward the peace process. Third issue covers the support for founding of the sovereign Tamil Eelam state. The fourth issue involves the support for establishing Eelam state as semi-independent. The fifth issue involves support for the current propensity especially within the Sri Lankan political arena to demonstrate linguistic courtesy towards the leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) through honorific titles as a sign of respect. Responses to these issues were through scaled responses ranging from 'strongly agree' to 'strongly disagree'.   The third part of the experiment involves the investigation of stereotypes. The participants were provided a list of twenty one personal characteristics and asked to demonstrate the extent that the characteristics are associated with an ethnic group as a stereotypical characteristic. Half of the research participants rated the level of stereotyping for the Tamil and the other half for the Sinhalese ethnic group. Instructions for rating asked for knowledge of general and not the personal stereotype. Twenty one characteristics include: "(1) Loves own ethnic group; (2) Poor; (3) Hardworking; (4) Cunning; (5) Foolish; (6) Peace lovers; (7) Hostile; (8) Inhuman; (9) Selfish; (10) Naïve; (11) Unclean; (12) Terrorist or supporters of terrorism; (13) Unpleasant way of speech; (14) Aggressive; (15) Anger towards [outgroup: Tamil/Sinhalese] people; (16) Lazy; (17) Greedy for money; (18) Religious; (19) Fights for own rights; (20) Helpless; and (21) Strong ingroup unity". Composite measures were attempted to be derived from the ratings. Seven of the characteristics were indicative of malevolence (4, 6, 7, 8, 12, 14, 15, while item 6 was reverse-scored) while three expressed agency (10, 19, 20, while items 10 and 20 were reverse-scored). Composite indices for malevolence is a mean interitem score of r=.35 and chronbach's alpha of .80 and interitem score of r=.23 and chronbach's alpha of .47 for agency. Interpretation and analyses of the manipulation check showed similar estimates of Tamil population for respondents shown the Sri Lankan and the regional map (M score of 40.23 and 44.26 respectively) but the estimates of the Sinhalese population differed with a majority Sinhalese population in Sri Lanka and a minority Sinhalese population in the region (M score of 72.79 and 28.10 respectively. This shows that the manipulation check worked in supporting the perception of majority in the country but minority in the region. In terms of the socio-political attitudes linked to the conflict between the Sinhalese and Tamils, these lacked correlation requiring their individual consideration. The map manipulation had a significant influence on the four items. Most of the participants shown the regional map expressed greater disfavor over the sovereign Eelam state (p=.001), semi-independent Eelam state (p=.033), and the current peace process (p=.028) In relation to the stereotype characteristics to indicate malevolence and agency, showed that the Tamils were considered as more malevolent relative to Sinhalese (p=.001) with malevolence ratings higher in the group shown the regional map (p=.040) while Tamils were also shown to be more agentic (p=.001) especially from participants shown the regional map.  The results imply that there is a direct relationship between the perception of members of an ethnic group over their majority or minority status relative to other ethnic groups and the conflict related attitudes towards other ethnic groups. In relation to the present study, the experiment constitutes a parallel methodological tool with which to study the relationship between perceptions of member of the Sunnis of their group status relative to the Shiites and the conflict linked attitude towards the other religious group. The method applies closely to the current research because of the majority status of the Sunnis in Iraq but a minority status in the rest of the Arab region. Moreover, the methods of analyses also guide the current research in the consideration of manipulation checks and statistical measures to derive reliable data. Characteristics of religious stereotypes need to be determined for the current study.  McDermott, Cowden and Koopman studied the relationship among the variables framing, uncertainty and hostile communications through the use of the experimental method. The research sought to investigate whether cognitive process among political leaders influences the predictability of their procurement decisions in case of crisis. To meet the research requirements, the study utilized scenario simulations to investigate this phenomenon. The study proceeded based on the premise of four factors that influence the cognitive processes of political leaders in allocating funds for military purposes in instances of conflict. These factors are 1) striving for superiority vis-à-vis striving for parity with regard to military resources; 2) degree of uncertainty in relation to the characteristics of existing military resources; 3) level of ambiguity over the aggregate capacity of current military resources; and 4) the tone of the communications transmitted from one conflicting party to the other. The influence of these factors on cognitive processes leading to decision making is tested through laboratory simulation. Results showed that striving for superiority and tone of the other disputing party greatly influenced defense spending while uncertainty and ambiguity do not hold significant influence on military budget allocation. The simulation involved the scenario involving two fictitious countries involved in a conflict due to common claims over an oil rich territory. The participants in the experiment played the role of monetary leaders in either of the two disputing countries. They are given the scenario and they hold the decision over the extent of budget allocation for the military as well as the signals to communicate to the other party involved in the conflict. The nature of the political role of the participants is somewhat autocratic so that the results of the study more closely resemble more autocratic rather than democratic leaders. However, this was necessary to allow the accomplishment of the study without the complications brought about by democratic processes and allow the participants to decide on their own. In addition, the simulations do not forfeit experimental realism because the simulation was sufficiently designed. Despite the lack of external validity, internal validity is achieved through the manipulation of the uncertainty, ambiguity and the overall decision frame prior to the start of the simulation and the participants were randomly assigned to one position or the other in the simulation. Since majority of political leaders are men, the 144 participants were male university students of different ethnic backgrounds. Overall, there were 72 randomly determined pairs. One party was asked to assume the position of leader of Lenora while the other plays the leader of Padua, two states sharing a common border engaged in the dispute over an island determined to be rich in oil. Instruction papers were color-coded in red for Lenora and blue for Padua to enhance the association of the participant with its role. Instructions included the role, the scenario, maps and debriefing documents. There were three rounds of decision making session with the participants being asked to make a procurement decision, answer procurement questionnaires, and make communications to the other party. Every round represented a period of one year. The parties were not aware of the identity of their opponent since the communications were delivered to them by the moderator.  Decision frame manipulation involved the instruction for the participants to either go for superiority or parity. This provides the participants with a defined direction so they just have to decide over the issue of budget allocation to the military. Ambiguity and uncertainty were also manipulated by varying the instructional information on the military capacity of the leader and his opponent. Greater certainty involved more detailed descriptions of weapons and other military resources while greater ambiguity involved the provision of discrete values over the one's own and the other party's military capacity. Tone of communications was also manipulated by assessing and classifying the messages in the three phases according to friendly, mixed or neutral, and hostile. Prices for weapons were in Euro dollars.             In analyzing the results, there was need to transform data into that which can be assessed by common measures. The research used the Box-Cox regression to classify the expenditures according to dyads. The result is the derivation of the distribution measure that is closer to the normal curve. The decisions were then classified into disaggregated and aggregated depending upon the existence of interaction between the parties. During the first stage, the parties made their decision without receiving any communication between the parties. The decisions were analyzed through a 2x2x2 ANOVA. Results showed that the parties given the superiority condition decided on greater allocation (M=10.00) compared to the lower allocation by the party playing parity position (M=8.37). In relation to certainty and uncertainty or ambiguity and non-ambiguity, the scores were closely related with M=9.43 and M=8.98 respectively. During the second and third stage, there were already communications between the parties. Analysis showed that similar to the previous stage, the participants playing the superiority role decided on greater arms allocation as well as greater hostility in tone of communications with a p <.03, two-tailed test for both manipulations. Again, in the case of certainty and ambiguity had no significant influence on arms allocation decision with a p >.46 and p > .69 from a two-tailed test respectively. The experiment was able to show that decision-making in military budget allocation in times of crisis is greatly influenced by the position of the monetary leader in the conflict as either claiming superiority or up for parity and the tone of communications to the adverse party.             Although the study is not closely linked to the research on the influence of religious differences on conflict, the simulation experiment is significantly applicable to the present study. The simulation involved the investigation of the relationship between variables similar to the determination of the link between religious differences and conflict, with religious differences as the manipulated variable and conflict as the resulting variable. The methods of analyses also apply because of the similarity in the factors and relationships being measured. With a simulation experiment the strength of influence of certain religious differences to the propensity to engage or to actually be involved in conflict.       Methodology To obtain primary and secondary data needed to complete the study, the quantitative approach will be applied. Qualitative research elicits detailed verbal or written accounts and descriptions of cases, characteristics and situations. This research method follows the inductive approach.