ETHNIC NATIONALISMCAUSE OF CONFLICT OR PEACE?

QOD

•ARE THERE ETHNIC GROUPS THAT ARE ALSO COUNTRIES? IF SO NAME 2.

WORLD’S MOST AND LEAST ETHNIC COUNTRIES

NATIONAL IDENTITY• THERE ARE TWO MAJOR WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT NATIONAL

IDENTITY. ONE IS THAT ALL PEOPLE WHO LIVE WITHIN A COUNTRY'S BORDERS ARE PART OF THE NATION, REGARDLESS OF THEIR ETHNIC, RACIAL, OR RELIGIOUS ORIGINS. THIS CIVIC NATIONALISM IS THE CONCEPTION WITH WHICH CONTEMPORARY AMERICANS ARE MOST LIKELY TO IDENTIFY. BUT THIS VIEW HAS COMPETED WITH AND OFTEN LOST OUT TO A DIFFERENT VIEW, THAT OF ETHNIC NATIONALISM. THE CORE OF THE ETHNIC NATIONALIST IDEA IS THAT NATIONS ARE DEFINED BY A SHARED HERITAGE, WHICH USUALLY INCLUDES A COMMON LANGUAGE, A COMMON FAITH, AND A COMMON ETHNIC ANCESTRY.

CIVIC NATIONALISM

•WHEN A GOVERNMENT IS FORMED NOT ON THE BASIS OF SHARED HISTORY, ETHNICITY OR LANGUAGE; CIVIC NATIONALISM IS BASED ON IDEAS THAT A COUNTRY AND SOCIETY COME TOGETHER BASED ON THE RIGHTS AND LAWS PROVIDED BY THE GOVERNMENT.

EXAMPLE CANADA• CANADA IS A VERY DIVERSE STATE, FOUNDED IN

RESPECTS TO THREE MAIN CULTURES - PROTESTANT ENGLISH, CATHOLIC FRENCH, AND FIRST NATIONS. IT IS MUCH TOO HARD TO REALLY BRING ALL THESE DIVERSE GROUPS TOGETHER UNDER THE BANNER OF "CANADA," SO, INSTEAD OF BASING THE LAWS, CITIZENSHIP AND IDEALS ON A SHARED ETHNICITY, CANADIANS BASE LAWS, CITIZENSHIP AND IDEALS BASED ON SHARED RIGHTS THAT CANADIANS ARE ENTITLED TO. IT IS BECAUSE OF THAT UNIFYING FACTOR, THEY SURVIVE AS A COUNTRY,

ETHNIC NATIONALISM

•  IS THE OPPOSITE OF THIS. IT IS MOST COMMONLY FOUND IN COUNTRIES WHERE SHARED HISTORY AND IDENTITY IS OVERWHELMINGLY PRESENT. THIS MEANS THAT A COUNTRY COMES TOGETHER BASED ON THE SHARED IDEALS INHERENT TO THEIR SHARED IDENTITY, AND THE COUNTRY IS GOVERNED AS SUCH.

EXAMPLE FRANCE• FRANCE HAS ALWAYS HAD A MAJORITY POPULATION OF FRENCH

CITIZENS, WITH VERY SMALL AND NOT VERY LARGE MINORITIES. THE COUNTRY WAS FOUNDED BASED ON THE FRENCH IDENTITY, AND THE LAWS REFLECT THAT.• LAWS COMING RECENTLY OUT OF FRANCE THAT BAN ALL

RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE; SECULARISM IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE MODERN FRENCH IDENTITY, REGARDLESS OF THE INCREASING NUMBERS OF MINORITIES COMING INTO THE COUNTRY. 

ETHNIC STATES IN THE PAST

• UNITED STATES UP UNTIL 1965, GROUP?• GERMANY AND ITALY ESPECIALLY 1920- 1945• EGYPT

ETHNIC NATIONAL STATES TODAY

• ISRAEL• JAPAN• SERBIA• KOREA• SLVOKIA

HOW SIGNIFICANT IS NATIONALISM AS A CAUSE OF WAR?

• NATIONALISM HAS BEEN CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE WARS OF HUMAN HISTORY; THE STATES RESPONSIBLE FOR INITIATING BOTH THE FIRST AND THE SECOND WORLD WARS HAVE HISTORICALLY BEEN EXAMINED AS THE EPITOME OF THE DANGERS OF NATIONALISM. 

4 DETERMINANTS IF A GROUP WILL USE VIOLENCE

• THE FIRST IS THE GROUP’S STATEHOOD STATUS – HAS THE NATIONALIST GROUP CONCERNED ACHIEVED STATEHOOD? A DEFINING CHARACTERISTIC OF NATIONALIST GROUPS IS THE DESIRE FOR A STATE WHICH THEY PERCEIVE AS GROUP REPRESENTING THEIR UNIQUE CULTURAL AND NATIONAL IDENTITY. HENCE A NATIONALIST GROUP WHICH HAS ATTAINED STATEHOOD IS LESS LIKELY TO USE VIOLENCE AS A GROUP WITH UNATTAINED STATEHOOD; AS SUCH GROUPS ARE MORE INCLINED TO USE FORCE TO ACHIEVE THIS POLITICAL DESIRE. EXAMPLE THE KURDS IN TURKEY/IRAQ/IRAN

2ND CHARACTERISTIC

•  THE SECOND IS A NATIONALIST GROUP’S STANCE TOWARDS THE LEGITIMACY AND SOVEREIGNTY OF OTHER STATES, PARTICULARLY THOSE BORDERING SUCH A GROUP’S TERRITORY OR STATE BORDERS; IF ANOTHER STATE’S BORDERS ARE SEEN TO BE ENCOMPASSING TERRITORY DEEMED TO BE RIGHTLY THE POSSESSION OF A NATIONALIST GROUP, THE LIKELIHOOD OF WAR IS INCREASED. EXAMPLE NAZI GERMANY AND THEIR INCORPORATION OF SUDETENLAND AND CZECHOSLOVAKIA.

3RD CHARACTERISTIC

• IF A NATIONALIST GROUP IS INFLUENCED BY A DIASPORA (THE DISPERSION OF AN ETHNIC OR NATIONAL GROUP OUTSIDE OF A STATE OR NATIONAL BORDER[5]), THE EFFORTS TO REINCORPORATE THOSE OF THE SAME NATIONALITY BACK INTO WHAT IS PERCEIVED AS THE ANCESTRAL TERRITORY MAY MAKE A NATIONALIST GROUP MORE INCLINED TO USE FORCE TO ACHIEVE SUCH AN AIM. EXAMPLE THE JEWS IN PALESTINE.

4TH CHARACTERISTIC

• IF A STATE SUPPRESSES AN INTERNAL MINORITY NATIONALIST GROUP (BE IT AN ETHNIC OR CULTURAL NATIONAL GROUP), THE LIKELIHOOD OF INTERNAL VIOLENCE, SUCH AS CIVIL WAR, IS INCREASED DUE TO THE INCREASED FRICTION BETWEEN SUCH SUPPRESSED GROUPS AND THE CENTRAL STATE – THE LEVEL TO WHICH A NATIONALIST GROUP IS SUBJECTED TO OPPRESSION INFLUENCES ITS TENDENCY TOWARDS VIOLENCE. EXAMPLE YUGOSLAV WARS (1991-95)

VIDEO TED TALK

•HTTP://WWW.TED.COM/TALKS/STEFAN_WOLFF_THE_PATH_TO_ENDING_ETHNIC_CONFLICTS?LANGUAGE=EN

TOLERANCE AROUND THE WORLD

SOURCES

• HTTP://WWW.E-IR.INFO/2012/06/19/HOW-SIGNIFICANT-IS-NATIONALISM-AS-A-CAUSE-OF-WAR/

• HTTP://WWW.CONFLICTMAP.ORG/MAP• HTTP://WWW.RELIGIOUSTOLERANCE.ORG/CURR_WAR.HTM