Collective psychological ownership and reconciliation in territorial conflicts

Nora Storz,Charis Psaltis,Maykel Verkuyten,Sonia Roccas,Borja Martinovic,Iris Žeželj

doi:10.5964/jspp.v8i1.1145

Abstract

Collective psychological ownership refers to people’s perception that an object, place, or idea belongs to their own group. We considered this concept in the context of territorial conflicts and proposed that (1) collective psychological ownership is distinct from place attachment, (2) higher ingroup identifiers are more likely to claim collective ownership and feel attached to the territory, yet (3) only ownership claims are related to lower support for reconciliation. These hypotheses were tested in two studies using structural equation modelling. Study 1 addressed the Kosovo conflict, based on Serbian participants living in Serbia (N = 264). We found that collective psychological ownership and place attachment were distinct. Moreover, higher Serbian identifiers had a stronger sense of collective ownership of Kosovo and were more attached to it. Those with stronger feelings of collective ownership supported reconciliation with Albanians less, while place attachment did not hinder reconciliation. Study 2 replicated these findings among a new sample of Serbs in Serbia (N = 173), among Serbs in Kosovo (N = 129), and in two other conflict settings: among Greek Cypriots in Cyprus (N = 135) and Jews in Israel (N = 109). Altogether, we provide evidence that collective psychological ownership can represent an obstacle to reconciliation in conflict regions.

Highlights

There are situations in which different ethnic groups claim the same territory, as Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo, Greek and Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus, and Jews and Arabs in Israel and the Palestinian territories
We propose that ingroup identification is relevant for understanding who perceives more collective ownership, and that feelings of collective ownership mediate the relation between ingroup identification and reconciliation
Participants on average identified with Serbia and perceived that Kosovo belongs to Serbs, but were not strongly attached to Kosovo

Summary

Introduction

There are situations in which different ethnic groups claim the same territory, as Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo, Greek and Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus, and Jews and Arabs in Israel and the Palestinian territories These are examples of what we call ‘territorial conflicts’ and the challenge in such conflicts is to find a way for the groups to reconcile. In Study 2 we compared three conflict regions – Kosovo, Cyprus, and Israel – by analyzing data from Serbs in Serbia (173 participants), Serbs in Kosovo (129 participants), Greek Cypriots (135 participants), and Jews in Israel (109 participants) We found in both studies and across conflict areas that people who identified more strongly with their group had a stronger sense of territorial ownership, and this sense of ownership was related to less willingness to reconcile

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