Living in Fear: Religious Identity, Relative Deprivation and the Boko Haram Terrorism

Since 2009, a radical Islamist group in Nigeria called Boko Haram has been responsible for a string of violent attacks and bombings strategically directed at the government, security officials, churches, civilians, and the United Nations headquarters in the Nigerian capital Abuja. With the attacks getting increasingly coordinated and sophisticated, there are growing concerns, locally and globally, about not only the quickly deteriorating security situation in Nigeria but also the potential implications for Nigeria's unity. This article explores the relationship between religion as a force of mobilization as well as an identity marker in Nigeria and how its practice and perception are implicated in the current Boko Haram terrorism. The article further draws on the theory of relative deprivation to explain why Boko Haram rebels.