Unit 3 · Topic 3.8

3.8 Political and Social Cleavages

A cleavage is a deep, lasting division in society, based on ethnicity, religion, class, region or language, that shapes politics. Every course country has them. What matters most is whether cleavages overlap and reinforce each other or cut across each other.

Key terms

cleavage
ethnic cleavage
religious cleavage
regional cleavage
class cleavage

Types of cleavage

Ethnic: groups with different ancestry, language or culture.
Religious: different faiths, or religious vs. secular.
Class: rich vs. poor, workers vs. owners.
Regional: one part of the country vs. another, often tied to wealth or identity.
Urban-rural: city dwellers vs. countryside, often with different incomes and values.

Coinciding vs. cross-cutting

Cleavages are coinciding (or reinforcing) when they line up: the same people are divided by religion, ethnicity and region at once. That makes conflict sharper, because each group has many reasons to see the other as different. Nigeria is the classic case: the mostly Muslim north is largely Hausa-Fulani and poorer, while the mostly Christian south includes the Yoruba in the southwest and the Igbo in the southeast, and oil wealth comes from the Niger Delta.

Cleavages are cross-cutting when they don't line up, so people share some identities with one group and others with another. That tends to moderate conflict.

The six countries

Country	Main cleavages
UK	National (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland); Protestant–Catholic and national divide in Northern Ireland; racial and ethnic divides, including communities with roots in former colonies; class; age and education divides seen in the 2016 Brexit vote
Mexico	Indigenous and mestizo (about 19% identified as indigenous in the 2020 census); poorer south vs. richer north; urban-rural; class
Nigeria	More than 250 ethnic groups; Muslim north vs. Christian south; oil-producing Niger Delta vs. the rest
Russia	Ethnic Russians about four-fifths of the population, mostly Orthodox; many minorities, including Chechens (mostly Muslim) and Tatars; Muslim regions in the North Caucasus; Moscow vs. the regions
Iran	Persian majority and minorities including Azeris, Kurds, Arabs and Baluch; Shi'a majority and Sunni, Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian and Baha'i minorities; urban-rural; generational
China	Han about 91% of the population (2020 census) and 55 recognized minorities, including Uyghurs and Tibetans; urban-rural; coast vs. interior

Cleavages and voting

Cleavages shape party support. In Nigeria, presidential candidates usually win most strongly in their home regions, one reason parties informally rotate their candidates between north and south. The SNP draws on Scottish national identity. When parties form around a single cleavage, elections can harden divisions instead of bridging them.

Cleavages also shape informal networks, like patron-client ties within an ethnic group in Nigeria. Leaders in every course country have used cleavages to build support and hold power, for example by appealing to a majority group, but doing so can deepen conflict and weaken legitimacy.

Worked examples

Try each one yourself first, then open the solution.

Example 1
Explaining coinciding cleavages
Explain how coinciding cleavages in Nigeria can make political conflict harder to manage.
Show the solutionHide the solution
1. Step 1: Name the cleavages: religion (Muslim north, Christian south), ethnicity (Hausa-Fulani in the north, Yoruba and Igbo in the south) and region (with oil wealth in the south-south).
2. Step 2: Explain the overlap: because these divisions line up, a dispute over one issue, like who holds the presidency, quickly becomes a contest between whole regional, ethnic and religious blocs.
3. Step 3: Show the effect: Nigeria uses tools like an informal rotation of the presidency between north and south and the federal character principle to manage this.
Answer: Because religion, ethnicity and region overlap in Nigeria, disputes become bloc-versus-bloc conflicts, which is why the country relies on federalism, federal character and power rotation to manage them.

Common mistakes

Describing cleavages without saying how they affect politics. Always connect a division to voting, parties, policy or conflict.
Forgetting class and urban-rural cleavages. They matter in every country, not just ethnic and religious ones.
Treating every cleavage as a source of violence. Many are managed peacefully through institutions.

On the exam

Know at least one clear cleavage for each country; multiple-choice questions often ask which country fits a description.
The coinciding vs. cross-cutting distinction is a strong way to explain why cleavages are more dangerous in some countries.

Connected topics

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