Ethnic Conflict

RESUMEN Este artículo analiza las políticas y prácticas de gestión territorial que experimenta la población gitana española en los últimos años del franquismo. En primer lugar, presento argumentos y evidencias que revelan la existencia de un sistema de racismo institucional. El caso de los gitanos, incluso al final de la dictadura, muestra cómo un conjunto de prácticas discriminatorias arraigadas en el funcionamiento cotidiano de las instituciones puede reproducirse, sin costes políticos, incluso sin amparo legal. En segundo lugar, profundizo en los instrumentos, las prácticas institucionales y los discursos performativos de las relaciones interétnicas que acababan al servicio de la segregación y exclusión gitana. Una conclusión destaca. La desigualdad de trato a la hora de realojar a distintos tipos de poblaciones chabolistas sometidas a la presión urbanística aumenta la segregación residencial y la distancia social de buena parte de la población gitana, así como la desigualdad interétnica de oportunidades. El de España con los gitanos es un caso en el que los programas de realojo de minorías originalmente instaladas en chabolas e infravivienda supondrán una resituación aún más periférica y marginadora del grupo. Además estas políticas resegregadoras intensificarán los prejuicios antigitanos históricos. De hecho, aquellos proyectos de realojo gitano que sí modificaban la entonces mayoritaria división étnica del espacio urbano desencadenarán, ya en estos años, resistencias

Centripetalism is often perceived as a type of a political system for a multi-segmental, especially multi-ethnic, country in order to create among the members of the political elite of integrative and moderate political behavior cross-cutting segmental divisions which, reaching beyond group interests, depoliticize the segmental separateness and, in this manner, reduce their significance. One of the central institutions of centripetalism is decentralization leading to a division of large segments into smaller parts that inhabit different, ideally multi-segmental regions, thus inclining regional political elites of different segments to collaborate. Although both Nigeria and Indonesia have similar centripetal territorial structures, only Nigeria is a federation. This paper focuses on Nigerian centripetal federalism and its link to the so-called federal character principle that is mostly consociational in substance.

Throughout the past years, substantial discussions have dealt with the factors associated with ethnic conflicts such as institutional designs, group dynamics and the influence of external peacemakers. However, one area remains largely uncovered: this is how the domestic politics of a nation state shape minority issues from the same ethnicity in another country. In this paper we discuss the dynamics of Hungarian politics relative to the Hungarian minority in Romania, and identify factors that resulted in exporting domestic political contention to another country.

Borders and borderlands are often viewed as marginal to centres of state power, both politically and geographically. However, the way that states deal with their borders, and how borderlands in turn deal with their states, can be reflective of conditions at the centre of state power, making borders the ‘central margins’ (Raeymaekers 2009) of states. Whilst various studies have already looked at cases where a minority ethnic population resides in the borderland (Goodhand 2005, Nugent 2002, Scott 2009), this dissertation seeks to explore the findings of this literature outside of the typical range of case studies by looking at state-building in a de facto independent state with limited international recognition. Studying the case of Abkhazia, and its minority Georgian population in the Gali borderland through the lens of border theory, this dissertation shows how cross-border trade, centre-periphery political relations and border controls both shape, and are shaped by, the dynamics of state-building at the centre.

Society and politics. Power, politics, and social sciences (100 years after Max Weber), Faculty of Political Science, University of Banja Luka, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina (20200918-20200919). ”Unaccompanied young refugees with war experiences in institutional care in Sweden. A Weberian-inspired analysis of power relations in the narratives of young persons”. (Plenary session).

The fact that people are being forced to flee from war and disastersis a very current issue. This study concerns young peoplewho have experienced war, taken shelter in Sweden, and havebeen placed in institutions. The purpose of the study is to identifyand analyse power relations that contribute to the shaping ofyoung people’s identities and repertoires of action via stigmatisationsand social comparisons with different reference groups.Max Weber (1922/1968) analyses power as a direct action by anactor X that forces an actor Y to act according to X’s will, even ifthe action is contrary to Y’s interests or will. Weber draws attentionto two dimensions of power relations. The first dimension ismaintained through the practical implementation of pressure(s)or the threat thereof. The second dimension is maintained whenthose who are vulnerable give up or yield and accept the powerof the executor of the said pressure. The power of the executorof pressure often includes an order with content that is expectedto be followed by particular individuals or groups (Weber1922/1968). Randall Collins’ (2004, 2008) analysis of power, conflict,solidarity, resistance, and status is inspired by Weber’s perspective. Collins believes that in all social arenas, the exercise ofpower is always met with resistance from other people, thus generatingnew conflicts. For Collins, ‘conflict and solidarity are twosides of the same coin’. Mobilisation against an enemy often leadsto solidarity among individuals and groups, and vice versa. Thestudy’s empirical material includes qualitatively oriented interviews with six young people in institutional care from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria who have experienced war followed by aplacement in institutional care in Sweden. During the interviewswith the young people, the following themes are discussed: 1) lifebefore the war began; 2) the atmosphere in the home town whenthe war began; 3) experiences during the war; 4) an ordinary dayduring the war; 5) fleeing to Sweden; 6) the efforts made by institutionalcare workers, social services, the Swedish MigrationAgency, legal representatives, school; 7) life at the institution; 8)help after arriving to Sweden and after; 9) processing trauma;10) differences among the young people; 11) explicit and implicitidentifications (refugee, immigrant, war victim, etc.); 12) futureprospects; 13) future help from various public authority staff. The preliminary analysis of power relations in young people’sstories reveals the following themes: a) power relations in war asa permanent state of society; b) power relations in schooling asan arena for war stories; c) power relations and the learning ofan existence characterised by war; d) power relations, normalisation,and neutralisation of states of war; e) power relations whenfleeing war as part of the war; f) power relations in Sweden (includingthe fight for the recognition of numerous identities, suchas a student, worker, husband, breadwinner, and homosexual).

When should researchers conduct work alongside extremely vulnerable children in insecure settings, and how should they go about doing so? This chapter seeks to explore research methods, ethical considerations, and the manner in which to conduct research safely with child soldiers in conflict settings. The chapter is based on fieldwork child soldiers in the conflict zones of Syria and Myanmar, and the post-conflict setting of northern Uganda.  The chapter addresses three sets of questions in each case: (1) what are the concerns regarding the safety of the researcher and participants in each context and how do they relate to research with youth at the margins in general? (2) What are the ethical challenges of conducting research in this context in specific, in terms of the safety of youth who are participants? (3) What methods can researchers use in order to gain access to the children armed groups in an ethical fashion? In conducting research with children in conflict, it is essential that researchers address these three questions, in order to ensure the safety of the researcher and the people with whom they interact.

This chapter re-examines military-sponsored and civilian violence in
the Kars and Batum provinces (oblasts) during WWI. It sheds new light on the nature of the ethnic violence in the Caucasus in the first half of the war and suggests that the war unleashed multiple, overlapping ethnic reprisals that have been overshadowed by the Armenian genocide. I argue that while the Ottomans had plans to recapture the area through regular and irregular warfare, Russia did not initially have expansionist plans. I also argue that despite the Russian use of Armenian voluntary forces against the Ottoman Empire, Russia did not support Armenian nationalist aims in eastern Turkey or “Western Armenia.”

How can rebel groups reach their goals? Max Abrahms explores this question in Rules for Rebels, analyzing numerous rebel groups through a mixed-methods approach that includes quantitative analysis, case studies, and field research. He primarily aims to demonstrate the importance of smart leadership as a condition of rebel groups’ political success against sovereign states. Abrahms argues that rebellions are more likely to reach their political goals when they attack the military targets of a state, rather than civilians. Abrahms does not study the psychological, social, or ideological factors that motivate rebels to kill civilians; instead, he predominantly focuses on the organizational structure of rebel groups (as leader organizations) and gives the leader...

Цикл статей посвящен размышлениям о самом конфликте, его последствиях, его понимании и обсуждении в Кыргызстане и на международной арене. Главная цель нашего обсуждения – сохранить память об этих событиях и повысить осведомленность об их продолжающихся последствиях. Материалы, написанные группой из четырех кыргызстанских и двух иностранных ученых, показывают как личные взгляды, так и анализ огромных изменений, произошедших в результате конфликта. Через эти перспективы цикл статей призван поддержать дебаты внутри Кыргызстана, Центральной Азии и более широкой международной аудитории. Через обсуждение мы стремимся генерировать новые идеи и подходы к решению проблем и напряженности, все еще существующие в пострадавших общинах. Но помимо этих аспектов, данная публикация также нацелена на развитие новых идей и подходов для преодоления напряженности на общественном уровне в Кыргызстане, а также в отношениях с международными партнерами.

This is an abstract of a conference presentation that looks at three combatant narratives that give overlapping descriptions of the same conflict events and events that led up to them during the Sri Lankan state's civil war with the Liberation Tigers (1983-2009). In the presentation I look at LTTE cadre Malaravan's "War Journey", Sri Lankan state trooper Boniface Perera's "Avi Bimaka Hadha Gaesma", and defected Tigers activist Shobasakthi's "Gorilla".

Archaeoentomological research at the precontact site of Nunalleq (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries AD), Southwest Alaska, has identified hundreds of lice and fleas that infested both the human inhabitants of the site and their canine companions. As lice are host specific, staying attached to the host’s hair or fur during the totality of their lifecycle, they are generally considered excellent indicators of
activity areas. Fleas, however, are relatively less common in archaeological contexts and, since they are mobile and able to infest several different host species, their potential use in the spatial reconstruction of activities is more limited. At Nunalleq, the study of insects from the most recent archaeological contexts produced very
different spatial distribution patterns for human lice, fleas, and dog lice. This article compares these archaeoentomological data with other datasets available for the site (carrion-feeding flies, human hair, fur, coprolites, projectile points, and pieces of clothing) with the aim of establishing the phenomena that produced the distinct spatial distributions observed.