A Theoretical Reconstruction of Social Cohesion Theory for Post-Conflict Plural Societies: Evidence from Nigeria’s Middle Belt

Existing social cohesion theories were developed primarily in Western European immigration contexts and are poorly adapted to post-conflict plural African societies where ethnic violence, state weakness, and competing sovereignties produce distinctive cohesion challenges and resources. This doctoral study develops an original theoretical reconstruction of social cohesion theory applicable to post-conflict plural societies, grounded empirically in four years of multi-community research in Nigeria's Middle Belt region spanning Benue, Plateau, and Nasarawa States. The study combines comparative community case studies across eight communities representing varying conflict intensities and recovery trajectories, social network analysis of inter-ethnic economic and social ties, longitudinal cohesion measurement using an originally validated Social Cohesion in Post-Conflict Communities scale, and discourse analysis of reconciliation narratives. The theoretical reconstruction proposes four original departures from standard social cohesion theory. First, it reconceptualises cohesion as intrinsically contested and non-linear in post-conflict contexts rather than as a stable end-state. Second, it identifies market-based economic interdependence as a more durable cohesion substrate than identity-based solidarity in ethnically diverse communities. Third, it theorises the role of reconciliatory narrative communities, typically religious institutions, as irreplaceable cohesion scaffolding unavailable to secular interventions. Fourth, it proposes a conflict legacy discounting mechanism explaining why cohesion investments decay faster in communities with recent rather than historical violence. The doctoral framework advances social cohesion theory through empirically validated original propositions applicable to the broader West African post-conflict context. Keywords: social cohesion theory, post-conflict, Middle Belt Nigeria, plural society, reconciliation.