University of California at Berkeley, Center for German and European Studies

Global Security and Ethnic Conflict
Co-sponsored with the Institute of International Studies

Globalization and the Islamic Movement: Explaining Communal Conflict in Muslim Majority States

Paul M. Lubeck Board of Studies in Sociology University of California, Santa Cruz

Working Paper 6.1 March 1995

This paper looks at the relationship between the rise of Islamic radicalism and changes in the global political and economic order. The author suggests that the major independent variable explaining whether Islamic radicalism can take power in a given state is the degree to which the state is able to articulate and then successfully pursue a national agenda. The success of such an agenda is in turn dependent upon the position of the state in the context of the global order. Thus, the author makes the claim that the creation of an integrated, global market exacerbates rather than suppresses Islamic radicalism because it interferes with the ability of any given state to pursue its own agenda. Economic liberalization weakens state authority, exposes its citizens to global competition and creates social and economic dislocation, providing an opportunity for Islamic radicals to position themselves as an alternative to further global integration.

The Tale of Two Resorts: Abkhazia and Ajaria Before and Since the Soviet Collapse

Georgi Derlugian Dept. of Sociology State University of New York

Working Paper 6.2 March 1995

This paper seeks to explain why some regions of the ex-Soviet empire have erupted into violent movements for ethnic secession while others remain calm. The author contrasts the case of two regions of the Caucasus, Abkhazia and Ajaria, both of which are officially within the borders of the independent nation of Georgia. While Abkhazia has become an emblem of bloody ethnic secession, Ajaria has peacefully and only partially distanced itself from the Georgian state. The author looks for an explanation in the various sort of corporatist bargains struck between these satellite regions and Moscow during the periods of Tsarist and Soviet rule. Both Abkhazia and Ajaria were dominated by mobster-like elites who had varying dynamic relationships both with Moscow and with the Georgian governments in Tbilissi. Ultimately, he finds that ethnicity is not primordial category but rather a dependent variable; it is a tool of hegemonic domination and intra-elite conflict. Whereas Abkhazian ethnicity was heavily evoked throughout the period of Russian and Soviet rule, the notion of Ajarian ethnicity was never really developed. Ethnicity is thus neither inevitable nor immutable.

Orchestrating Racial Harmony and Racial Discord in Post-lmperial Britain

Elaine Thomas Dept. of Political Science University of California, Berkeley

Working Paper 6.4 May 1996

This paper examines the hypothesis that increased global economic integration under liberal capitalism exacerbates ethnic tensions. The author looks at the rise of the New Right in Great Britain, contrasting this case with France and Germany's own experience of right wing extremism. She argues against the notion that the early rise and subsequent peaking of the right in Britain vis ( vis its continental neighbors might be a product of its earlier experience of global liberalization. Rather, she claims the opposite: that the shift to neo-liberal politics was itself a product of rising racial tensions. The author considers other factors that led to increased ethnic tension including changes in the racial composition of Britain, persistently high unemployment and police behavior. She focuses on changing party impact dynamics in British politics, arguing that these parties are firmly enough established to have a major impact on the voting public's views on race than abstract economic forces and the role of opportunistic would-be elites.

Identity (Trans)Formation Among Bulgarian Muslims

Maria Todorova Dept. of History University of Florida, Gainesville

Working Paper 6.5 March 1995

This paper looks at the ways in which Bulgarian Muslim identity has been shaped by economic, social and political forces. Like most Balkan Muslims, the Bulgarian Muslims historically did not take on their own nationalist identity and had a more fluid and cross-cutting sense of their ethnicity. In the face of rising Bulgarian nationalism and increased economic hardship in Muslim area, there has been a struggle to create a sense of Bulgarian Muslim nationalism, a struggle that has many obstacles including the lack of a commonly accepted name for the community. The author concludes that the lack of imposed homogenization that is characteristic of successful nationalist movements, has left Bulgarian Muslims a diverse and inchoate group. Attempts at self definition have floundered and instead, to the degree that some sort of nationalist consciousness is arising, it comes from an externally imposed and highly artificial division between "Bulgarians" and "Turks," a division many Bulgarian Muslims are unwilling and/or unable to make.

Liberalization and Ethnic Entrepreneurs In the Soviet Successor States

Philip G. Roeder Dept. of Political Science University of California, San Diego

Working Paper 6.6 March 1995

Looking at ongoing developments in the former Soviet Union, the author argues against the idea that ethnic politics is a result of liberalization. He argues that the formation of ethnic politics is a result of pre-existing institutions and largely internal political developments. As evidence, the author points to the peculiar behavior of so-called ethnic movements in the area; many of these movements do not have even a modicum of ethnic identity to draw on, including the attempted secession of many all-Russian cities within the confines of the Russian republic. Furthermore ethnic secession is often more active in culturally similar areas of the former Soviet Union than between culturally distant areas. The author suggests that ethnicity serves as a thin mask for naked political aggression and that the behavior of rent-seeking elites is the proper focus for further inquiry into post-Soviet ethnic politics.

Nationalism: Rethinking the Paradigm in the European Context

Andrew Bell-Flailkoff Interdisciplinary Studies, Boston University Andrei S. Markovits Board of Studies in Politics, University of California, Santa Cruz

Working Paper 6.7 March 1995

These authors revisit the long established assumption that there are two forms of nationalism, cultural and political (or "ethnic" and "demotic") and that in general, the East is characterized by the former and the West by the latter. The authors suggest this paradigm is Euro-centric, oversimplistic and cumbersome. Instead, the authors suggest that cultural and political forms of nationalism can be found in any given state and that the determination of which form will dominate hinges on questions of state strength and incorporation. The authors argue that whether citizens are mobilized as individuals or in collective groups is the primary determinant of nationalism, with the existence and capacity of a state being a secondary, yet still important factor. The authors develop a new typology of nationalisms which seeks to transcend the problems of the prior binary categorization system and to add a consideration of political factors.

Conflict in India: Panjab and Kashmir

Nirvikar Singh Board of Studies in Economics University of California, Santa Cruz

Working Paper 6.10 March 1995

This paper analyzes the rise of ethnic conflict in India. The author looks at how identity is formed, how it is activated, and under what conditions it will lead to violence. In focusing on the case study of the contested provinces of Panjab and Kashmir, the author speculates as to why these regions of India in particular have experienced such protracted struggles around ethnic lines. While India is a diverse nation with many languages and religions, this region of India is geopolitically separate from the rest of the subcontinent and thus a greater sense of ethnic difference has been developed here. The author writes that a sense of difference does not in itself lead to militant separatism; in both Panjab and Kashmir, local elites chose association with India after independence. The turn towards militancy came from a combination of the meddling of foreign powers and the weakness of the Indian state. With limited resources, increasing penetration by global markets, and an insecure hold on political power, the central state in New Dehli was unable or unwilling to offer any sort of accommodation to the contesting political actors in this region, leading to radical separatism and the current crisis.

Re-emerging Ethnic Politics in Germany: Far Right Parties and Violence

John Leslie Dept. of Political Science University of California, Berkeley

Working Paper 6.11 March 1995

By the end of the 1980's ethnic politics had re-emerged in German politics with the entrance of a number of extreme right parties into local and regional parliaments in the Federal Republic. After 1989, German unity fused two very different societies together within a single polity dramatically altering the course of developments. Two years after unity, with further successes by far right parties and a dramatic surge in violence against foreigners, German politics seemed on a path toward being consumed in the wave of ethnic conflict sweeping across Europe. However, less than two years after such developments, parties of the extreme right have all but disappeared and, while still far above their pre1989 levels, the number of incidents of violence against foreigners has declined precipitously. This paper demonstrates the role played by laws and political parties in shaping the development of ethnic relations in Germany. Prior to unification these institutions facilitated the emergence of identity politics but strongly pushed them away from violent conflict into the electoral arena. After unification the polarized political debate over the presence of foreigners and the fluid situation in the transforming Eastern society permitted the eruption of violent attacks on foreign residents in the East which then spread to the West. Paradoxically, however, this wave of violence against foreigners, after the shock of the initial eruption, seems to have closed off opportunities driving ethnic politics, as voting or violence, from center stage back into the ghetto of neo-Nazi politics.

The Congress of Berlin, Romanian Anti-Semitism, and the Dissociation of Liberalism and Nationalism Throughout Europe: Failure of Tolerance and Analogies Between Two Fin-de-Siècles

Daniel Chirot The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington

Working Paper 6.12 March 1995

This paper discusses the status of nationalism and identity politics in Eastern Europe during the Congress of Berlin in 1878, focusing on the case of Romania. Romania was seeking to be recognized by the Congress as an independent nation with citizenship based on an exclusive ethnic identity. This effort came into conflict with the liberal views of the powers which dominated the Congress. These powers demanded that Romania grant its Jewish population full citizenship as a prerequisite to recognition. In this contest of wills, it was Romania which triumphed; the Jews of that country gained virtually no rights and Romania was in fact recognized. The author examines how this came to pass. He argues that Romania, seen as backwards by the great power, in fact was a harbinger of things to come. The author suggests that unlike the mild and benign sense of identity offered by liberalism, an ethnic based sense of identity is charged with anger and resentment, offering a far more potent source of mobilization. The efforts of Romanian nationalists to portray their nation as being wronged proved to be a far more effective means of garnering public support than the waning appeal of liberal identity. The author concludes by suggesting something similar may be occurring now in the late twentieth century where once again the forces of resentment are competing with liberal notions of identity.

Explaining the Yugoslavia's Breakup: Institutional Weakness, Economic Crisis, and Identity Politics

Beverly Crawford Center for German and European Studies University of California, Berkeley

Working Paper 6.13 July 1996

This essay provides an institutional explanation for "cultural" (ethnic and religious) conflict in Croatia and Bosnia. It explains why "ethnic" conflict did not break out in other parts of Yugoslavia as the central state dissolved. The paper takes issue with "primordial," "international," and "instrumental" explanations and suggests that an institutional explanation can account for more variation than the other three.

From "Culture Wars" to Shooting Wars: Globalization and Constitutive Conflict in the United States

Ronnie Lipschutz Board of Studies in Political Science University of California, Santa Cruz

Working Paper 6.14 March 1995

The author explores the phenomenon of what he calls constitutive conflict in the United States. He characterizes this phenomenon as a widespread resentment of the centers of power by various social actors. Constitutive conflict is engendered by political entrepreneurs who manipulate and even create these resentments in order to further their own political agendas. Typically, Lipschutz argues, the notion of constitutive conflict is confined to discussions of developing nations where it is assumed that questions of resource allocation and the effects of global integration will lead to enhanced conflict. He argues that in the United States too, a similar sort of reaction is occurring and, while it is currently being played out within the confines of the democratic system of rule, there is no reason to believe that this will remain contained in a non-violent and socially sanctioned manner in the future. Lipschutz argues that in their rhetoric and actions, modern day politicians such as Pete Wilson have broken with a long standing American tradition of the "melting pot," calling into question the notion of membership in American society in a way that pits newcomers and socially excluded groups against more established social groups. Lipschutz argues that a permissive and necessary condition for this sort of language to find resonance in American societv is the deleterious effects of global integration whereby resource allocation patterns are being altered by forces which weaken the central state and make it more vulnerable to claims on it by various groups.