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Mariana Tepfenhart - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Ethnic Conflicts: Their Biological Roots in Ethnic Nepotism
Comparative Civilizations Review, 2015Co-Authors: Mariana TepfenhartAbstract:Tatu Vanhanen, Ethnic Conflicts: Their Biological Roots in Ethnic Nepotism Ulster Institute for Social Research, 2012The author of the book, Tatu Vanhanen, is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of Tampere, Finland and Visiting Researcher at the Department of Political Science at the University of Helsinki.The topic of Ethnic conflict has generated a lot of debate among scholars from different fields who tried to explain the causes of such occurrences and to understand why some Conflicts escalates into genocides and others are moderate and have been resolved successfully.Most of the previous theories explain Ethnic Conflicts through cultural and environmental factors and they did not produce results that can be tested. Dr. Tatu Vanhanen provides a new interpretation based on genetics. He argues that the evolutionary roots of Ethnic conflict can be traced to " Ethnic nepotism" which is defined as the human " disposition to favor and align with relatives in conflict situations". (Vanhanen IX). This is a behavior that is characteristic in all people but it has more significance in Ethnically divided societies. He focused on the idea that all organisms struggle for survival, according to Darwin's evolutionary theory. This struggle for resources is omnipresent and it affects human societies, too. It is this competition for scarce resources that is at the base of all interest Conflicts.The author uses two empirical variables to test his theory. One is Ethnic heterogeneity (EH) to estimate the significance of Ethnic nepotism in the conflict. The second one is the scale of Ethnic Conflicts (EEC) - to measure the intensity of the conflict from minor incidents to genocide.His book is divided into eight chapters and covers 176 independent countries for the time period between 2003-2011.Using the Scale of Ethnic Conflicts (EEC) and Ethnic Heterogeneity (EH), the author sets out to test his hypotheses. He has used a scale of 1 to 5 to measure the significance of Ethnic Conflicts in different countries, with 1 representing minor incidents and 5 representing high level of Ethnic violence. Each country was measured based on this scale. Ethnic pluralism is determined by the percentage of the largest homogeneous Ethnic group.Tatu Vanhanen presents three types of Ethnic groups : one based on racial differences, one based on linguistic, national and tribal differences and one based on religious communities (Vanhanen, 46.)The most important for the study of Ethnic Conflicts are the racial differences. If the country studied has a population with 90% homogeneity, other types of Ethnic divisions are taken into account such as national income per capita, human development and level of democratization. …
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The Causes of Ethnic Conflicts
Comparative Civilizations Review, 2013Co-Authors: Mariana TepfenhartAbstract:Ethnic Conflicts are not new phenomena. 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 disintegration of the former Soviet Union.The post-Cold War world showed signs of decline with respect to the power of states to maintain political stability. Since the two superpowers were no longer competing for sphere of influences in the world, Third World countries suffered primarily because they lost the support of their former patrons. What had once served as a stabilizing force was gone.The resulting Conflicts are violent, bringing suffering, death, destruction, and terrorism. They can escalate from local to regional areas. The casualties resulting from Ethnic Conflicts are often in hundreds of thousands as one Ethnic group tries to eliminate another. The consequences can last generations.This article discusses the most common causes that can trigger violent Ethnic Conflicts. The author uses as examples two countries: the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Although the literature on this topic is quite large and politicians and scholars come with different interpretations, generally there is not only one cause for the conflict, but a combination of factors. This paper emphasizes the role of belligerent leaders in triggering the wars.Many states are made up of numerous Ethnic groups, defined as groups that share common heritage, interests, beliefs, historical experience, and cultural traits. An Ethnic conflict is a conflict between two Ethnic groups within a state, one dominant and one subordinate. Often the dominant group is the state and the subordinate one is challenging its legitimacy.States do nation building by integrating their Ethnic groups, usually through coercion. Sometimes, Ethnic groups benefit from integration such as opportunities for better jobs. In this process, Ethnic groups acquire a double identity; they don't lose their identity. If assimilation fails, then Ethnic groups can be declared illegal (e.g. Kurds in Turkey or Turks in Bulgaria in the 1970s). The state might resort to genocide of a group, deportation, or relocation, as has happened in Rwanda and Chechnya. 2There are different ways to eliminate an Ethnic group. Genocide is massacre organized by the state with the goal to totally eliminate the members of a certain Ethnic group. In the 20th century, the world witnessed the Holocaust and the genocide in Rwanda. Other forms of confrontation are less violent, such as cultural genocide, which is still used to destroy a group culturally. It involves the destruction of the churches, monuments, documents, and houses connected with the existence of a certain Ethnic group. Ethnic cleansing is a combination of cultural genocide and forced relocation. In certain cases, Ethnic cleansing is accompanied by genocide, as it was in Yugoslavia.3Depending upon the relations between enemy groups, these kinds of Conflicts can be categorized into Ethnic Conflicts in a collective setting, an individual setting, or an interpersonal setting. These categories do not establish rigid barriers. A conflict can start in one type of setting and shift to another one, depending on the given situation.Collective Ethnic Conflicts are absolute and fixed. The bonds between the members of these Ethnic groups are dogmatic. They fear contamination by another group and attempt to prevent any infiltration from outside. The Nazi Party or the Bolshevik Party acted as a group, and, if one member was injured, the whole group retaliated. Conflicts in such a setting are more likely to be involved in violence which does not end until one side is annihilated.4Conflicts in an individual setting are relative, not absolute. Members of the group act as individuals. Their identities can switch among different political, cultural and religious entities. …
Suraj Shekhar - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Ethnic Conflicts with informed agents a cheap talk game with multiple audiences
Economics Letters, 2019Co-Authors: Pathikrit Basu, Souvik Dutta, Suraj ShekharAbstract:We consider a society on the brink of Ethnic conflict due to misinformation. An ‘informed agent’ is a player who has information which may prevent conflict. Can the informed agent achieve peace by communicating privately with the players? The issue is that if the informed agent is known to favour her own Ethnicity, she is unable to communicate credibly with the other Ethnicity. Despite this, we show that peace can be achieved in equilibrium. Our paper contributes to the literature on cheap talk games with multiple audiences with the novel addition of private signals along with payoff externalities.
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Ethnic Conflicts with informed agents a cheap talk game with multiple audiences
2017Co-Authors: Pathikrit Basu, Souvik Dutta, Suraj ShekharAbstract:Rumours often precipitate Ethnic Conflicts and cause immense damage to life and property. There may exist an agent who knows if the rumour is true or false. We analyze a cheap talk game with multiple audiences (Ethnicities) to see how this informed agent (b) may influence the outcome of rumours by sending strategic signals. Since b is biased towards her own Ethnicity, she finds it difficult to convince the other Ethnicity that she is giving them correct information. We show that even if b is known to be biased towards her own Ethnicity, peace is possible in equilibrium. Additionally, we prove that there are only three equilibrium outcomes possible in symmetric strategies. Conflict is inevitable in one. The other outcomes have the following features. One, there may be peace whenever b deems it possible. Two, while b gives more informative signals to her own Ethnicity, she may misinform a segment of her own Ethnicity in equilibrium.
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Ethnic Conflicts rumours and an informed agent
2014Co-Authors: Pathikrit Basu, Souvik Dutta, Suraj ShekharAbstract:Rumours often precipitate Ethnic Conflicts. There may exist an agent (player b) who has additional information about the veracity of the rumour. We explore the role that such agents play in negating the effects of a bad rumour. Two cases are analysed - b is non-strategic i.e. he reveals his information truthfully and b is strategic and has a commonly known bias towards one Ethnicity 1 . When b is nonstrategic, our model suggests that conflict caused by a false rumour is unlikely to happen when b can meet a large fraction of the population (as in rural areas). This is due to two effects - not only do the players who meet b know that the rumour is false, they also estimate (from the commonly known meeting process) that a large part of the population must also know. This allows them to coordinate, not fight and enjoy the high peace time payoff as opposed to the lower conflict payoff. This could be a possible explanation for the commonly observed phenomenon that Ethnic Conflicts in India are largely an urban phenomenon. 2 When b is allowed to be strategic and it is known that he has a bias towards one Ethnicity, we show that, under parametric restrictions, there are only two equilibrium outcomes possible. In one outcome, everyone fights and conflict occurs with probability one. In the other equilibrium outcome, there may not be conflict when b believes that peace is possible. If b believes that conflict is inevitable, he reveals information in a way which gives his own Ethnicity a higher probability of winning. The latter equilibrium outcome is from a knife edge equilibrium. This highlights the difficulty in preventing rumour induced Conflicts when the informed agent is biased.
Jonathan Fox - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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religious affinities and international intervention in Ethnic Conflicts in the middle east and beyond
Canadian Journal of Political Science, 2009Co-Authors: Jonathan Fox, Patrick JamesAbstract:Abstract. This study asks questions that are important for both theory and policy: Do ethnoreligious minorities attract more intervention than other Ethnic minorities? Do Middle Eastern and Islamic Ethnic minorities attract more international intervention than Ethnic minorities living elsewhere, and if so, why? The Minorities at Risk database, which contains information on intervention in all Ethnic Conflicts between 1990 and 1995, is used to answer these questions. The findings show that Middle Eastern and Islamic minorities do, in fact, attract more international intervention than other minorities. This is due to a larger pattern where states, especially Islamic ones, rarely intervene on behalf of Ethnic minorities with which they share no religious affinities. The results also show that ethnoreligious minorities are more likely to attract political intervention than other Ethnic minorities. These results confirm the importance of religious affinities in spite of a general disposition in the field of international relations to minimize their effects. Resume. Cette etude repond a des questions d'importance theorique et pratique. Est-ce que les minorites ethnoreligieuses attirent plus d'interventions internationales que les autres types de minorites? Est-ce que les minorites ethniques islamiques et du Moyen-Orient attirent plus d'interventions internationales que les minorites ethniques d'ailleurs et si oui, pour quelle raison? La banque de donnees du programme Minorities at Risk , qui repertorie les interventions dans tous les conflits ethniques survenus entre 1990 et 1995, est outillee pour repondre a ces questions. Les resultats de recherche demontrent que les minorites ethniques islamiques et du Moyen-Orient attirent, en effet, plus d'interventions internationales que les autres minorites. Cela s'explique par le fait que les Etats, et plus particulierement les Etats islamiques, interviennent rarement en faveur des minorites avec lesquelles ils ne partagent aucune affinite religieuse. Les resultats demontrent egalement que les minorites ethnoreligieuses ont tendance a attirer plus d'interventions etrangeres a caractere politique que les autres types de minorites. Les conclusions de recherche confirment donc l'importance que revet l'affinite religieuse pour les interventions internationales dans les conflits ethniques, a l'encontre de l'opinion generale des experts en relations internationales, qui tendent a minimiser son role.
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religious causes of international intervention in Ethnic Conflicts
International Politics, 2001Co-Authors: Jonathan FoxAbstract:Ethnic conflict and international intervention have become increasingly important items on the international agenda since the end of the Cold War. Yet not all Ethnic Conflicts attract international intervention. While there are clearly other important motivations for international intervention, this study focuses on the influence of one of them: religion. Are religious Conflicts perceived as more important to potential intervenors? Do those who intervene have religious affinities with the Ethnic minorities on whose behalf they intervene? The results of this analysis find support for these relationships. Religious Conflicts attract more political intervention by foreign governments and kindred groups to the minority living elsewhere. Intervening states are likely to have populations that are religiously similar to those minorities on whose behalf they intervene. Also, religious Conflicts involving Christian and Moslem minorities attract military intervention by foreign governments about ten times as often as Conflicts involving other religious minorities. These groups also attract more political intervention by kindred groups living elsewhere, whereas minorities that are not Christian or Moslem attract more intervention by NGOs and multi-state organizations.
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The Ethnic‐religious nexus: The impact of religion on Ethnic conflict
Civil Wars, 2000Co-Authors: Jonathan FoxAbstract:Since the end of the Cold War, religion and Ethnicity have been major causes of domestic conflict. This work examines the nexus between religious and Ethnic causes of conflict based on information from the Minorities at Risk dataset as well as information collected by other studies. The findings show that while the primary causes of Ethnic conflict are non‐religious Ethnic issues, the majority of Ethnic Conflicts involve religious issues. Religion can cause Ethnic Conflicts when the religious beliefs of an Ethnic group are threatened by another group or when religious laws are believed to call for conflictive action. Religion can become involved in Ethnic Conflicts that have secular causes through the use of religious institutions and legitimacy in the conflict. Occasionally, this involvement of religion can transform a secular conflict into a religious one.
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the salience of religious issues in Ethnic Conflicts a large n study
Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 1997Co-Authors: Jonathan FoxAbstract:The purpose of this study is twofold: First, to establish that despite arguments to the contrary by the modernization/secularization and the functionalism schools of thought, religion plays a role in Ethnic conflict; second, to present a basic large‐n cross‐sectional data analysis of issues relating to ethno‐religious conflict. The results show that ethno‐religious Conflicts are different from other Ethnic Conflicts and that religion does play a role in some ethno‐religious Conflicts but that role is not as common as one would believe given anecdotal evidence taken from current events.
Marieeve Desrosiers - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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a sociological look at the evolution of recent scholarship on Ethnic Conflicts
Journal of International Relations and Development, 2018Co-Authors: Marieeve DesrosiersAbstract:It is commonly held that there was increased scholarly interest in Ethnic Conflicts following the end of the Cold War, though what this greater interest has meant in terms of the evolution of this subfield in subsequent decades has rarely been studied. To fill this gap, this article looks at all articles (n = 246) on the causes of Ethnic Conflicts, out of a total of 20,105 articles published in 30 key journals between 1990 and 2012. Adopting a sociological stance, it argues that the subfield expanded over the period. However, Ethnic conflict literature appears to have been at key points largely driven by external factors. There is also indication that duels as opposed to dialogue were the modus operandi for this period. Overall, the broad notion of expansion needs to be nuanced in light of some concerning trends behind the subfield’s sociological evolution.
David Carment - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Old Wine, New Bottles: Synthesis and Integration in Ethnic Conflict Research
Ethnopolitics, 2016Co-Authors: David CarmentAbstract:AbstractToday it is known why, how and when Ethnic Conflicts erupt, the form they will take, and the factors associated with their de-escalation. However most research continues to select heavily on the dependent variable while comparatively less examines questions about the timing, escalation and the duration of group interactions in both its cooperative and conflictual forms. In order to understand why some Ethnic Conflicts are prone to violence while others are not, the author argues programmes are needed to map out patterns of co-existence on a global scale.
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The International Dimensions of Ethnic Conflict: Concepts, Indicators, and Theory*
Journal of Peace Research, 1993Co-Authors: David CarmentAbstract:One of the growing debates among students of international politics concerns the precise linkage between Ethnic conflict and international conflict. The present investigation attempts to contribute to this dialogue in three ways. First, prior studies of Ethnic conflict and international relations are reappraised in terms of the central concepts and presumed causal linkage, leading to several changes in approach. Specifically, a typology of Ethnic Conflicts is devised deductively, including a rank ordering of types of Ethnic Conflicts in terms of the impact they have on levels of international violence. Second, testing focuses on the presumed ordering of Ethnic Conflicts from anti-colonial, secessionist and irredentist utilizing data from the International Crisis Behaviour Project on cases in the period 1945-81. A set of bivariate and multivariate indicators and an index of violence are used in the assessment of the proposed impact Ethnic Conflicts have on interstate violence. Four of the five propositions are confirmed. Third, the paper offers some preliminary conclusions about the policy and theoretical implications of the international dimensions of Ethnic conflict, including directions for future research.