Isajiw university of toronto paper presented at joint canadaunited states conference on themeasurement of ethnicity, ottawa, ontario, canada, april 2, 1992. Ethnic groups were granted the unconditional right to secession. But ethnic peace means an absence of violence, not an absence of conflict. Furthermore, most of the literature agrees on the operationalization of ethnic conflict into a simple dichotomous variable. Ethnic conflict, a form of conflict in which the objectives of at least one party are defined in ethnic terms, and the conflict, its antecedents, and possible solutions are perceived along ethnic lines. Pdf ethnoterritoriality and ethnic conflict adam moore.
The grow up public frontend visualizes a subset of the data, e. Pdf main apporaches to the definition of ethnic conflicts. Both of these rationalities are expressions of goaldirected behavior, but their conceptions of costs widely diverge. Conflict is a struggle or contest between people with opposing needs, ideas, beliefs, values, or goals. It is rooted primarily in the fields of business, sociology and psychology, but not in communication or education. It presents a framework for understanding the origins and management of ethnic conflict, and recommends. Main apporaches to the definition of ethnic conflicts. Linking instrumentalist and primordialist theories of ethnic. When one groups army enters a city in enemy territory, its soldiers can be pretty condent that the overwhelming. Structure and strategy in ethnic conflict donald l. Try to keep any conflict between you and your expartner to a minimum.
The causes of ethnic conflicts byu scholarsarchive. Ethnic conflict constitutes a major challenge to international peace and security. Related terms are multiethnic federalism and ethnofederalism this type of federation is identified above all with the governance of meles zenawi from the 1990s in ethiopia, where it has sometimes been known as zenawism. Conflict, conflict prevention, conflict management and beyond. Each ethnic conflict has its own unique characteristics and, in different contexts, some of these elements will be more prominent than the others, but all of them are the common denominators necessary for ethnic conflict to occur. The concept paper series is the joint centers paper series addressing topics and concepts of foremost importance for understanding the dynamics of. This final criterion differentiates ethnic conflict from other forms of struggle. Their emphasis in on the ascriptive and cultural core of the conflict, and they distinguish it primarily from the largely nonascriptive and economic core of. Systematic discrimination and exclusion from national and local political decision making, the. Articles nationalism, ethnic conflict, and rationality of value rationality and instrumental rationality. While the source of the conflict may be political, social, economic or religious, the individuals in conflict must expressly fight for their ethnic groups position within society. While the origin while the origin of the conflict may be polit ical, social, economic or religious.
Instrumental rationality entails a strict costbenefit calculus with respect to goals, necessi. A large share of contemporary violence and disintegration in the world stems from ethnic conflicts both intrastate,such as within northern ireland and canada,or with an interstate link,as in the ethnic confrontations in afghanistan,cyprus,iraq. The significance of a shared ethnic origin varies with the. An ethnic conflict is a conflict between two or more rival ethnic groups. Negative effects of conflict conflict is the most vigorous form of social interaction and evokes the deepest passions and strongest emotions which can disrupt social unity. Jun 01, 2016 ethnic conflict constitutes a major challenge to international peace and security. The goal of this study determinates social context of ethnic conflict in multi ethnic societies. The primordialist approach helps explain the role of emotions and the conflict potential of ethnicity. Indeed, many conflict scholars find the ethnic distinction baseless. Horowitz decades after the recognition that ethnicity is a powerful force in the politics of many countries, with profound effects on prospects for democracy horowitz 1993. Developing country management ethnic conflict by participation and justice policy that the equality is the best way for resolve this problem. This inquiry will look at ethnic conflicts and possible causes within the 20th century.
Massive humanrights violations and physical attacks on civilianssuch as rape, torture, mass killings, ethnic cleansing, and genocidelead to tremendous human suffering. Developed by the uppsala conflict data program wallensteen 1988. Definition of conflict and the life cycles of a conflict conflict definition of conflict the perception of threat, or actual occurrence of conflict, is necessary for the initiation of conflict prevention or management measures, and hence it is essential to address the concept of conflict before exploring how to. Ethnic conflict michael banton department of sociology university of bristol abstract the ethnic dimension to social relations can be distinguished from dimensions based on neighbourliness, national origin, race and religion etc. Ethnic is sometimes used in a euphemistic way to refer to nonwhite people as a whole, as in a radio station which broadcasts to the ethnic community in birmingham. The misdiagnosis of african conflicts as ethnic ignores the political nature of the. Defined in broadest terms, conflict denotes the incompatibility of subject positions diez et al, 2006.
Ethnic conflict ethnic conflict dynamics of ethnic conflict. This study presents a conceptual framework for understanding the conflict in one of the most dangerous regions of the world the caucasus. Conflict trends and conflict drivers an empirical assessment of historical conflict patterns and future conflict projections thomas s. Conflict prevention sanam naraghi anderlini and victoria stanski conflict exists in all countries and in every level of society. In developing country incidence were low and in the developing sever. Theory and facts this copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only. Although this usage is quite common, more specific terms such as black or asian are preferable. It is complicated to define conflict as it is difficult to come to a consensus concerning the definition of. The grow up data portal unites a number of datasets on ethnic groups and intrastate conflict from various sources in a single relational database. Szayna, angela omahony, jennifer kavanagh, stephen watts, bryan frederick, tova c. By proposing a typology of armed conflict, the study seeks to achieve analytical clarity and contribute to conflict analysis. Such conflicts have existed all over the world for centuries, but in the last 20 years, after the fall of communism, they are in the focus of public attention due to the war in rwanda, the events in eastern europe, and the.
It refers to ethnicity as the collective phenomenon. First of all, the concept ethnic minority as a specific definition of groups in the population should be defined and measured. Our model applies equally well to groups that form based on the geographical base of their membership. Ethnic conflict dynamics of ethnic conflict britannica. This article argues that intense ethnic conflict is usually caused by collective fears for the future. Conflict is serious disagreement and argument about something important. By lowering the cost of enforcing membership in the winning group, ethnic diversity makes the latter less susceptible to expost inltration by members of the losing one.
A natural history of ethnic violence written by matthew lange, ithaca. Contents preface ix part i concepts and analysis 1 1 approaches to understanding conflict 3 the nature of conflict 5 the context of defining conflict 6 sociopsychological dynamics 9 conflict situations 10 intractable conflict 12 constructive versus destructive conflict root causes of conflict 15 levels of analysis 16 overview 18 2 conflict analysis framework 20. This is despite recurrent scepticism about its desirability and appropriateness in a globalising world. The conflict is usually not about ethnic differences themselves but over political, economic, social, cultural, or territorial matters. Ethnic conflict, a form of conflict in which the objectives of at least one party are defined in ethnic terms, and the conflict, its antecedents, and possible solutions. A widely used social science definition of armed conflict. Ethnic conflict definition and overview ethnic conflict is a concept that is difficult to define and perhaps, more difficult to comprehend. Ethnic, or interethnic, conflict refers to disputes between contending groups who identify themselves primarily on the basis of ethnic criteria and who make group claims to resources on the basis. Linking instrumentalist and primordialist theories of. If you wish to distribute this article to others, you can order highquality copies for your following the guidelines here. Ethnic conflict is a dispute between two or more ethnic tribal groups caused by the politicisation of tribal identity by selfseeking politicians. Yet, and crucially, ethnic conflict is by no means universal in ethnically. The concept of ethnic group is the most basic, from which the others are derivative. On the theory of ethnic conflict dukes fuqua school of business.
Conflict causes social disorder, chaos and confusion. Conflict between ethnicities is a phenomenon that has occurred for hundreds of years and in all corners of the earth. Comparing regional and ethnic conflict in postsoviet transition states. Competing theories of ethnic conflict in the caucasus abstract. The definition of ethnic as given above is a now standard one in the literature on ethnic politics, and is grounded in constructivist and instrumentalist frameworks bates 2016. The model also embodies the economics of conflict, and contains an explicit description of the financial and human opportunity costs of conflict. Ethnoterritoriality is an increasingly invoked term by those doing research on nationalism and ethnic conflict. The ethnic dimension to social relations can be distinguished from dimensions based on neighbourliness, national origin, race and religion etc. This article discusses the nature of ethnic conflict as well as the literature that.
Here the definition of ethnicity makes reference to national tradition, and the definition of race mirrors that of ethnicity. The conflict is usually not about ethnic differences themselves but over. The concept of conflict conflict refers to some form of friction, disagreement, or discord arising within a group when the beliefs or actions of one or more members of the group are either resisted by or unacceptable to one or more members of another group. We do not attempt to assess whether a situation meets the criteria for armed conflict in international law. We currently offer three portals to access these data. This article discusses the nature of ethnic conflict as well as the literature that defines and differentiates types of ethnic conflict. Ethnic conflicts were the main forms of political instability in the multi ethnic societies during second half of twenty century and beginning of new century.
If two people or groups are in conflict, they have had a serious disagreement or argument and have not yet reached agreement. Pdf the ethnic dimension to social relations can be distinguished from. Uncertainty, each ethnic conflict has its own unique characteristics and, in different contexts, some of these elements will be more prominent than the others, but all of them are the common denominators necessary for ethnic conflict to occur. Misinterpreting ethnic conflicts in africa africa center. Despite this, it has not been subject to detailed definitional and conceptual examination. First of all, the meaning of the concept of ethnicity depends on the meaning of several other concepts, particularly those of ethnic group and ethnic identity. But incidence of ethnic violence was different in varying country. An ethnic conflict is a conflict between two or more contending ethnic groups. When groups can be formed along ethnic lines, ethnic identity can be used as a marker to recognize potential inltrators. It is difficult to determine which catalysts for ethnic violence exist, and how they may be defined and differentiated.
Ethnic federalism is a federal system of national government in which the federated units are defined according to ethnicity. The causes of ethnic conflict in multiethnic societies. Ethnic conflict is defined as any episode of sustained violent conflict in which national, ethnic, and religious or other communal minorities challenge governments to seek major changes in status bates et. It is complicated to define conflict as it is difficult to come to a consensus concerning the definition of this term borisoff and victor, 1998. It presents a framework for understanding the origins and management of ethnic conflict, and recommends how the international community can intervene more effectively. Once ethnic conflict breaks out, it is difficult to stop. The model we use the notation h and m to denote two ethnic or religious af. What causes ethnic conflict, and why does it escalate. Ethnicity and ethnic conflict violence in twentieth century. The balkans, chechnya, ukraine, india, sri lanka, iraq, israel, the west bank and the gaza strip, and most of subsaharan africa, particularly the great lakes region, all bear vestiges of the danger of ethnic conflict.
1007 1273 202 1184 1496 1504 1578 1622 43 275 587 1057 708 285 1158 850 1412 1124 1388 1254 543 75 758 1633 1625 1231 845 1523 807 596 896 788 917 136 879 1183