The Myth of Ethnic War

The Myth of Ethnic War

Author: V. P. Gagnon, Jr.

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2013-05-15

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0801468884

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"The wars in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in neighboring Croatia and Kosovo grabbed the attention of the western world not only because of their ferocity and their geographic location, but also because of their timing. This violence erupted at the exact moment when the cold war confrontation was drawing to a close, when westerners were claiming their liberal values as triumphant, in a country that had only a few years earlier been seen as very well placed to join the west. In trying to account for this outburst, most western journalists, academics, and policymakers have resorted to the language of the premodern: tribalism, ethnic hatreds, cultural inadequacy, irrationality; in short, the Balkans as the antithesis of the modern west. Yet one of the most striking aspects of the wars in Yugoslavia is the extent to which the images purveyed in the western press and in much of the academic literature are so at odds with evidence from on the ground."—from The Myth of Ethnic War V. P. Gagnon Jr. believes that the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s were reactionary moves designed to thwart populations that were threatening the existing structures of political and economic power. He begins with facts at odds with the essentialist view of ethnic identity, such as high intermarriage rates and the very high percentage of draft-resisters. These statistics do not comport comfortably with the notion that these wars were the result of ancient blood hatreds or of nationalist leaders using ethnicity to mobilize people into conflict. Yugoslavia in the late 1980s was, in Gagnon's view, on the verge of large-scale sociopolitical and economic change. He shows that political and economic elites in Belgrade and Zagreb first created and then manipulated violent conflict along ethnic lines as a way to short-circuit the dynamics of political change. This strategy of violence was thus a means for these threatened elites to demobilize the population. Gagnon's noteworthy and rather controversial argument provides us with a substantially new way of understanding the politics of ethnicity.


Poland's Threatening Other

Poland's Threatening Other

Author: Joanna B. Michlic

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13:

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Interrogating the myth of the Jew as Poland's foremost internal 'threatening other, ' harmful to Poland, its people, and to all aspects of its national life, this book charts theoretical directions in the study of Polish-Jewish relations. It analyses the nature and impact of anti-Jewish prejudices on modern Polish society and culture.


Poland's Threatening Other

Poland's Threatening Other

Author: Joanna B. Michlic

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2006-12-01

Total Pages: 399

ISBN-13: 080325637X

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In this provocative and insightful book, Joanna Beata Michlic interrogates the myth of the Jew as Poland's foremost internal "threatening other," harmful to Poland, its people, and to all aspects of its national life. This is the first attempt to chart new theoretical directions in the study of Polish-Jewish relations in the wake of the controversy over Jan Gross's book Neighbors. Michlic analyzes the nature and impact of anti-Jewish prejudices on modern Polish society and culture, tracing the history of the concept of the Jew as the threatening other and its role in the formation and development of modern Polish national identity based on the matrix of exclusivist ethnic nationalism.


The State of the Nation

The State of the Nation

Author: John A. Hall

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1998-11-26

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 9780521633666

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An exceptional set of scholars assess every aspect of the most influential theory of nationalism.


Who We Are

Who We Are

Author: Robert H. Wiebe

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2012-06-24

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0691155526

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How did educated Westerners make an enemy of an inspiration that has changed the lives of billions? Why is nationalism synonymous with atavism, fanaticism, xenophobia, and bloodshed? In this book, Robert Wiebe argues that we too often conflate nationalism with what states do in its name. By indiscriminately blaming it for terrorism, ethnic cleansing, and military thuggery, we avoid reckoning with nationalism for what it is: the desire among people who believe they share a common ancestry and destiny to live under their own government on land sacred to their history. For at least a century and a half, nationalism has been an effective answer to basic questions of identity and connection in a fluid world. It quiets fears of cultural disintegration and allows people to pursue closer bonds and seek freedom. By looking at nationalism in this clearer light and by juxtaposing it with its two great companion and competitor movements--democracy and socialism--Wiebe is able to understand nationalism's deep appeal and assess its historical record. Because Europeans and their kin abroad monopolized nationalism before World War I, Wiebe begins with their story, identifying migration as a motive force and examining related developments in state building, race theory, church ambition, and linguistic innovation. After case studies of Irish, German, and Jewish nationalism, Wiebe moves to the United States. He discusses America's distinctive place in transatlantic history, emphasizing its liberal government, cultural diversity, and racism. He then traces nationalism's spread worldwide, evaluating its adaptability and limits on that adaptability. The state-dominated nationalism of Japan, Turkey, and Mexico are considered, followed by Pan-Africanism and Nigeria's anticolonial-postcolonial nationalism. Finally, Wiebe shows how nationalism became integrated into a genuinely global process by the 1970s, only to find itself competing at a disadvantage with god- and gun-driven alternatives. This book's original answers to imperative questions will meet with deep admiration and controversy. They will also change the terms on which nationalism is debated for years to come.


The Oxford Handbook of the Radical Right

The Oxford Handbook of the Radical Right

Author: Jens Rydgren

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 761

ISBN-13: 0190274557

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The radical right : an introduction / Jens Rydgren -- Ideology and discourse -- The radical right and nationalism / Tamir Bar-On -- The radical right and islamophobia / Aristotle Kallis -- The radical right and anti-semitism / Ruth Wodak -- The radical right and populism / Hans-Georg Betz -- The radical right and fascism / Nigel Copsey -- The radical right and euroscepticism / Sofia Vasilopoulou -- Issues -- Explaining electoral support for the radical right / Kai Arzheimer -- Party systems and radical right-wing parties / Herbert Kitschelt -- The radical right and gender / Hilde Coffé -- Globalization, cleavages, and the radical right / Simon Bornschier -- Party organization and the radical right / David Art -- Charisma and the radical right / Roger Eatwell -- Media and the radical right / Antonis A. Ellinas -- The non-party sector of the radical right / John Veugelers and Gabriel Menard -- The political impact of the radical right / Michelle Hale Williams -- The radical right as social movement organizations / Manuela Caiani and Donatella Della Porta -- Youth and the radical right / Cynthia Miller Idriss -- Religion and the radical right / Michael Minkenberg -- Cross-national links and international cooperation / Manuela Caiani -- Political violence and the radical right / Leonard Weinberg and Eliot Assoudeh -- Case studies -- The radical right in France / Nonna Mayer -- The radical right in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland / Uwe Backes -- The radical right in Belgium and the Netherlands / Joop J.M. van Holsteyn -- The radical right in Southern Europe / Carlo Ruzza -- The radical right in the UK / Matthew J. Goodwin and James Dennison -- The radical right in the Nordic countries / Anders Widfeldt -- The radical right in Eastern Europe / Lenka Butíková -- The radical right in post-soviet Russia / Richard Arnold and Andreas Umland -- The radical right in post-soviet Ukraine / Melanie Mierzejewski-Voznyak -- The radical right in the United States of America / Christopher Sebastian Parker -- The radical right in Australia / Andy Fleming and Aurelien Mondon -- The radical right in Israel / Arie Perliger and Ami Pedhazur -- The radical right in Japan / Naoto Higuchi


Nationalism and Ethnosymbolism

Nationalism and Ethnosymbolism

Author: Athena Leoussi

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2006-12-12

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 0748629351

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Ethnosymbolism offers a distinct and innovative approach to the study of nations and nationalism. It focuses on the role of ethnic myths, historical memories, symbols and traditions in the creation and maintenance of the collective identity of modern nations. This book explores the different aspects of the ethnosymbolic approach to the study of ethnicity, nationality and nationalism.Nationalism and Ethnosymbolism first introduces the main theoretical considerations that have arisen in nationalism studies in the past two decades. It then presents a collection of case studies covering music and poetry, ethnosymbolism in antiquity, and a wide variety of nations and regions. Areas discussed include Eastern Europe and Russia, the Middle East, the Far East and India, Africa, and the Americas.Overall the book offers a defence of the methodology of ethnosymbolism and a demonstration of its explanatory power.


The Ethnicity Reader

The Ethnicity Reader

Author: Montserrat Guibernau

Publisher: Polity

Published: 1997-10-29

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 9780745619231

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The Ethnicity Reader offers a comprehensive and challenging selection of readings for students of sociology, politics, international relations and race relations. It presents a highly accessible introduction to the study of ethnicity by providing an original approach to nationalism, multiculturalism and migration. The analysis of the ethnic component present in these three topics distinguishes this reader from others and makes it indispensable to those seeking to understand the relevance of ethnicity as one of the most prominent forces in the modern world. Drawing on a wide range of examples, the selections included examine theories of nationalism and consider issues of ethnic integration and conflict in the USA, Canada, Quebec, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Catalonia among other countries and regions. The reader, however, does not confine itself to the study of nationalism. Many of the selections deal with the role of ethnicity in groups which are not nationalist at all but for which ethnicity is an important factor in the process of migration. The concept of ethnicity is therefore discussed both in relation to group rights in existing nation states and in relation to transnational communities in a globalized world. Contributors include, Anthony D. Smith, John Rex, Eric Hobsbawm, James Clifford, Michael Keating, Franke Wilmer, Benedict Anderson, Will Kymlicka, Etienne Balibar and Michel Wieviorka.


Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict, revised edition

Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict, revised edition

Author: Michael E. Brown

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2001-09-14

Total Pages: 516

ISBN-13: 9780262523158

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Understanding the roots and causes of ethnic animosity; analyses of recent events in Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Somalia, and the former Soviet Union. Most recent wars have been complex and bloody internal conflicts driven to a significant degree by nationalism and ethnic animosity. Since the end of the Cold War, dozens of wars—in Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Somalia, the former Soviet Union, and elsewhere—have killed or displaced millions of people. Understanding and controlling these wars has become one of the most important and frustrating tasks for scholars and political leaders.This revised and expanded edition of Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict contains essays from some of the world's leading analysts of nationalism, ethnic conflict, and internal war. The essays from the first edition have been updated and supplemented by analyses of recent conflicts and new research on the resolution of ethnic and civil wars. The first part of the book addresses the roots of nationalistic and ethnic wars, focusing in particular on the former Yugoslavia. The second part assesses options for international action, including the use of force and the deployment of peacekeeping troops. The third part examines political challenges that often complicate attempts to prevent or end internal conflicts, including refugee flows and the special difficulties of resolving civil wars.