Ethnicity as a variable in war and challenge in the peace (original) (raw)
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Exploring the Significance of Ethnicity in Contemporary Conflicts
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research, 2023
In recent years, the international system has seen remarkable transformations in contrast to historical periods marked by nations involved in armed conflicts. Since the development of multilateral organisations and the recognition of globally accepted borders, the incidence of interstate conflicts has experienced a notable decline. Nevertheless, there has been a significant surge in the frequency of intrastate disputes, reaching an unparalleled magnitude. A significant proportion of present-day conflicts consist of intrastate wars, wherein a sovereign state becomes involved in acts of hostility within its own territorial boundaries. Although it can be contended that influential and burgeoning states with vested interests employ surrogate actors and engage in international interventions as a means to interfere in intrastate conflicts, however, upon careful consideration of the multitude of factors involved, it becomes evident that the key catalysts for the creation of intrastate conflicts are ethnic prejudices prevalent within states. The article aims to contend that ethno-nationalist conflicts served as the principal instigators of hostilities. It presents a comprehensive examination of the fundamental elements that contribute to interstate conflicts, as well as the distinguishing features of a recent war in contemporary political history primarily influenced by ethnic divisions. In other words, the piece aims to analyse the importance of ethnicity in contemporary conflicts and investigate various explanatory elements, such as religious ideologies, racial disparities, political dynamics, and economic and resource-related considerations.
Ethnic Identities and Conflict
Conflicts between ethnic groups are one of the most destructive and devastating forms of conflicts. In the beginning of the Third millennium the world and humankind are still suffering due to conflicts between ethnic groups. Sudan, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, UK-Northern Ireland, Spain, Sri Lanka, and Turkey are some of current examples of these conflicts that caused mass human rights violation and loss of human lives and strained economy and damaged the environment. Therefore preventing conflicts is an important issue that must be addressed and studied. This paper aims to examine, first, ethnicity, ethnicity making situations, causes and forms of ethnic conflicts. Second, it explores what are the main features of ethnic conflict prevention, what is the conflict prevention approach of EU and how EU functions in conflicts. Finally the study concludes that establishing a minority rights protection system is the most effective and humanitarian way to prevent ethnic conflicts.
Conceptual Bases of the İmpact of Ethnic Conflicts on Regional and İnternational Security
The article examines the impact of ethnic conflicts on regional and international security. It is noted that during the Cold War, it was impossible to conduct serious research in this area. Because ethnic conflicts were seen as an internal affair of states. However, with the end of the Cold War, the collapse of absolute sovereignty intensified the interaction between the domestic life of the country and the international community. Such a development in the context of globalization has turned ethnic conflicts into a problem of international politics, taking them out of the context of the internal affairs of states. The globalization of ethnic conflicts has strengthened its impact on regional and international security and laid the groundwork for the "ethnicization of international relations". The impact of ethnic conflicts on regional and international security can be studied in the context of instrumentalism, neomondialism, the Brubaker's Triangle, ethno-political movements, and theories of protracted conflict. In the theory of instrumentalism, ethnic conflict is seen as a means of struggle by elites. Even this struggle serves the interests of the ruling forces not only within the country, but also abroad. In the theory of protracted social conflicts, the main processes revolve around internal conflicts and identities. The Brubaker's Triangle and theories of the ethnopolitical movement play an important role in the study of the external resources of separatism and its transformation into an interstate war. In the context of neomondialism, S. Huntington's theory of "clash of civilizations" tried to justify the fact that future conflicts will occur between religious and civilizational systems stemming from cultural factors.
Ethnicity and Conflict: A Theoretical Perspective
Ethnicity has been the most significant phenomenon of the modern world. Stratification and diversification with variegated dimensions and context is an inbound mechanism of a social fabric of a society and state. Different scholars, intellectuals and men of letters studied the phenomenon of ethnicity in different ways. Some intellectuals call it as a minority, insiders, outsiders, others and nationalities. Ethnicity can be defined as a group of individuals identified on the basis of race, colour, language and territory. These groups have been existing almost in every part of the world. In reality the states are plural societies with many national, sub-national, religious, professional, racial, linguistic and geographic identities. In some states these identities live side by side, while in others they conflict with each other and undermine political edifice of the society. Ethnic identities live peacefully without conflicting with each other until and unless they are triggered to do so. The apparent and predominant cause of conflict among different ethnic identities is politico-economic imbalance and these identities, if in conflict have potential to destabilize or disintegrate the political system of any country. There is hard need to initiate various measures, though which will not eliminate the possibilities of ethnic conflicts, but definitely minimize them. There is hardly any state in the world which is not ethnically plural. These pluralities live side by side without intermingling with each other. In developed states of the world ethnic identities play a constructive role towards the stability of political system but developing polities remain unable to place different ethnic groups politically, socially and economically at their appropriate place. Therefore, ethnic identities get an opportunity to resist against the policies of ruling authority. Weak political system remains unable to address actual grievances of deprived people. Resistance under these circumstances starts to escalate and pose a major threat to the integrity of
Beyond Ethnicity: The Global Comparative Analysis of Ethnic Conflict
International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 2004
Conflicts that are reported as being between ethnic groups are often described as "ethnic conflicts." The implication is that such conflicts belong to a general type of ethnic conflict with certain repeated and predictable features. This type of conflict is seen as being motivated by ethnic sentiments, as being grounded in deeply set hatreds, and as being virtually inescapable. By applying the epithet "ethnic," it is as if the conflict were already explained. However, there are many reasons to be suspicious of these implications. Ethnic groups presently embroiled in fierce conflict may have been, at a previous point in time, peacefully co-existent. Frequently, the very lines of ethnic difference become blurred through intermarriage and cultural change. Therefore, in order to understand conflict described as "ethnic" we need to uncover the reasons why (in a given conflict situation) there is heightened awareness of ethnic difference. Then we need to explain what I have termed "the conditions of ethnicity," that is, the external conditions which lead to severe conflict; and those external circumstances that make it likely that the conflict will follow lines of ethnic differentiation. Two of these conditions are the strength of the state system and the ability of the state to manage ethnic conflict.
Regime Change and Ethnic Politics in Indonesia, 2014
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