Sons of the Soil (SoS) conflict refers to clashes between indigenous and migrant populations from state-sponsored population resettlement schemes (Fearon & Laitin, 2011; Weiner, 1978)....Show moreSons of the Soil (SoS) conflict refers to clashes between indigenous and migrant populations from state-sponsored population resettlement schemes (Fearon & Laitin, 2011; Weiner, 1978). Socioeconomic competition and horizontal inequalities (HIs) play a fundamental role in fomenting grievances between ethnic groups (Cederman et al., 2011). Through the use of theory-testing process tracing, this thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of the role socioeconomic HIs play in the emergence, progression and outcome of SoS conflict. This paper will show how in the case of Myanmar, the politicisation of HIs, precipitants, ethnic riots, rumours, state involvement and pogroms underpin the evolution of the June and October 2012 communal conflict between the Muslim Rohingya and Rakhine Buddhists culminating in the pogroms of August 2017. The paper will perform a qualitative assessment of state policies, human rights reports and media publications to map the politicisation of HIs and the subsequent onset of communal conflict. It concludes that longstanding socioeconomic competition between ethnic groups in the background, amplified by the politicisation of socioeconomic and demographic HIs in the foreground is fundamental to the onset of SoS conflict.Show less