Contentious Identities

Ethnic, Religious and National Conflicts in Today's World

Daniel Chirot

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9780415892001
• eBook ISBN:
  9781136164521
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Genocide & War Crimes
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book analyzes widespread global ethnic conflicts that tear asunder nations and regions, such as the former Yugoslavia. Dan Chirot casts his analysis in a discussion of the conflict between national and ethnic identity, discovering that ethnic identity, rooted in centuries of tradition and habit, often trumps national identity, which may be of more recent gestation and have a weaker hold on people. His analysis affords insights into the recent aggressive U.S. posture on 'nation building,' showing the blindness of this approach to deeply-entrenched ethnic identities. His timely book can be used in classes on globalization, international development, political sociology, social movements, and theory.

The goal of this new, unique Series is to offer readable, teachable "thinking frames" on today's social problems and social issues by leading scholars, all in short 60 page or shorter formats, and available for view on http://routledge.customgateway.com/routledge-social-issues.html

For instructors teaching a wide range of courses in the social sciences, the Routledge Social Issues Collection now offers the best of both worlds: originally written short texts that provide "overviews" to important social issues as well as teachable excerpts from larger works previously published by Routledge and other presses.

Glossary/Index

Note: Page numbers followed by “t” refer to tables.

A

affirmative action 49

Afghanistan 8, 47

Africa

clans in 8–10, 14, 33

colonialism in 8, 14, 17–18

discrimination and causes of conflict in 33

economic failure 33

increasing religious conflict in 48

independence in 8, 18

agrarian state: states in the past in which the large majority of people were peasants ruled by small groups of nobles, princes, kings, or emperors. Most people lived in rural villages and were not expected to take part in their state’s political system except to pay various kinds of taxes and labor obligations. In return they received some limited security, but little else. 1–3, 45

see also empire, state

Algeria 18, 48

American Revolution 13

Ancient Egypt 2, 4, 6

Ancient Greece 6, 16

Angola 18, 47

anti-Semitism: hatred of Jews. In the past this was largely based on religious prejudices, but since the mid-19th century much anti-Semitism has come to be based on pseudo-scientific racial theories claiming that all Jews are inherently undesirable. The attempt by Hitler’s Germany and its allies to exterminate all Jews was based on such notions and went so far as to claim that Jews were like a disease poisoning the healthy German race. 16, 42–43

see also genocide, Nazism, race, religion

Armenia 16, 42

assimilation: changing different culturally, ethnically, or religiously defined identities to conform more closely to majority attitudes and values. This is a key part of turning diverse communities into a more homogeneous nation, but it may arouse resistance and lead to conflict. x, 19, 19t, 21, 48–49

see also integration

Australia 21, 41

Austro-Hungarian Empire 3, 22, 23

B

Bangladesh 24, 35

Belgium 22, 26t, 37

Belize 26t

Bible 40, 42

Bismarck, Otto von 35

Burkina Faso 26t

Burma 7, 17, 27t

C

Cambodia

genocide in 28t, 43

nationalism in 38, 43–44

unmixing of population 46

Canada 18–19, 26t, 33

Catholic–Protestant conflict

in 16th and 17th century Europe 7, 38, 42

in Northern Ireland ix–x, 9, 27t, 28t

Chechnya 27t

China

conflict in Han areas 26t

conflict in non-Han areas 27t

empire 2

Great Leap Forward 41

minorities in 19

Nanjing massacre 41

religion in 4

and Tibet 27t, 29t

Christian fundamentalism 48

Christianity

in European colonial empires 5

in Roman Empire 4

clan: a group of closely related families claiming to have common ancestors who share a common political solidarity. Larger clans, or groups of clans, can form a whole tribe, but in pre-state societies or weak states, clans were and in some cases remain important political actors. 1, 2

in Africa 8–10, 14, 33

see also tribe

Cold War 46–47

colonial empires 3

collapse of 15, 17–18

European 3, 14, 15

genocide in 41

leg...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Series Foreword
• Preface
• I. From Family and Tribe to Modern Nation-State
• II. Majority–Minority Problems in Modern States and Nations and Strategies for Dealing with Them
• III. War or Peace? The Range of Possible Ethnic and Other Identity Conflicts
• IV. Causes of Increasing or Decreasing Conflicts
• V. Genocides: The Extreme Cases of Ethnic and Religious Conflicts
• VI. Contemporary Dangers and Opportunities
• Bibliography
• Glossary/Index