ABSTRACT
This chapter explores that some micro-level inter-community conflicts in some countries in West Africa are discussed with particular attention given to Nigeria and Ghana. Peace building, in its differing contexts, includes rebuilding the institutions and infrastructures of communities torn by civil war and strife and building bonds of peaceful mutual benefit in a given society. The chapter discusses the extensive nature of peace building approaches in West Africa through the lens of micro-level inter-community conflicts. It seeks to investigate what causes communities with common and uncommon identities to use violence as a means of pursuing their interests and asserting their authority and control. The chapter also explores what micro-level inter-community conflicts are, and the latent and triggering causes thereof. It interrogates the relationship between peace building and micro-level conflicts. The chapter illustrates efforts at managing micro-level conflicts and their policy implications using case studies of some peace building activities in the West African states of Ghana and Nigeria.
