Ethnic Separatism Research Articles

İlk Dönem Cumhuriyet Türkiye’si Ulus İnşası Sürecinde Milliyetçilik ve Sivil-Etnik İkilemine Dair Teorik Tartışmalar

After the Cold War era and globalization, the fall and division of some federal states also leaded to the need for redefining the relations between state and nation and citizen in the context of national cultureand subculture. It draws the attentions of the researchers with the rise of ethnic separatist nationalism, racism, xenophobia in the national, regional and global politics of post-national terms. It is a systemic change from the macro national state order into more non-state micro level actors as sub-national groups in the international system. Thus, new regimes and orders favor full liberalizations, politics, economics, democracy and human rights. Nowadays, Turkey tries to rewrite its constitution so as to deepen its democratic structure with the help of socio-political dynamics in post-election process. It will be designed as a social contract with the relations of state-society and individuals within the framework of universal democratic standards rather than ethnic, ideological, religious, gender exclusions. Our purpose in this article, to reconsider alternatives and discuss the various types of nationalist ideologies, ethnic versus civic nationalism, during the early Republican period after the Ottoman Legacy and the Millet system. Having expressing the political, social, cultural context of the terms (Turanism, Panturkism, Misak-i Milli) we have mentioned about national building process. At last, we elaborated the formation of new state identity, secular state and society, nationhood, citizenship, nationality and perceptions of the Turkish nation state model: one nation, one state, one language, one flag…

Group identity, ethnic separatism and multiple out‐groups: The Basque case

AbstractWithin the context of the Basque Country in Spain we examined how ethnic (Basque) and national (Spanish) identification relate to the evaluation of Spaniards, Basques, Andalusians and Catalans. On a sample of adolescent participants we tested a structural equation model which considered identity content (Basque separatism) as a mediator of the relationship between group identifications and group evaluations. While Spanish and Basque identification were associated with a positive evaluation of Spanish and Basque in‐groups, respectively, the evaluation of out‐groups that are relatively similar to the in‐group were not affected by identification. In contrast, dissimilar out‐groups tended to be evaluated more negatively by higher in‐group identifiers. Basque separatism mediated the negative relationship between Basque identification and the evaluation of Spaniards and of Andalusians as a prototypically Spanish subgroup. It is concluded that identification relates differently to the evaluation of different out‐groups, and that the ideological content of identity plays an important role in determining intergroup relations. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

China's Role in Establishing and Building the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)

In June 2001, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan established the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). While the immediate focus of the organization was to combat the so-called ‘three evils’—ethnic separatism, religious extremism, and international terrorism—the SCO's long-term viability and effectiveness in promoting regional stability and economic development depend on how member states build up common identity and cooperate on issues of mutual concern. This article looks at China's role in initiating the Shanghai-5/SCO structure within the broader framework of Beijing's foreign and security policy interests and priorities in Central Asia and seeks to examine both the prospects for and the potential obstacles to its efforts in achieving key objectives for this new regional organization: management of ethnic and religious unrest, including the fight against terrorism and separatism; maintenance of stable borders; development of energy resources; and promotion of economic prosperity. In addition, the article will also examine the extent to which Beijing has used the opportunity to exercise leadership and whether or not China can extend its influence to Central Asia using the SCO as a vehicle.

Kosovo and the UN

Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia was followed by sporadic violence on the ground, and sharply divided the international community. Russia, China, India and a majority of the world's nations opposed what was characterised as ethnic separatism. The United States and much of the European Union supported Kosovo's independence as the last step in the non-consensual break-up of the former Yugoslavia. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sought to defuse the crisis with a package of measures including the drawdown of the UN mission that had administered Kosovo since 1999, Security Council support for the deployment of a European Union rule-of-law mission, and a status-neutral framework within which recognising and non-recognising countries could cooperate while Kosovo's transition continued. Almost three years later, Kosovo's new institutions have progressed significantly; Serbia is governed by moderates focused on that country's European future, and the international military and civil presences are being reduced.

Economic freedom, ethnic separatism, and ethnic conflict

Ethnic conflict has not been tested using economic theory, except its most extreme forms - violence and warfare. This paper adopts the newer economic approach to conflict to analyze ethnic conflict more broadly defined. The analysis is able for the first time to derive equilibrium discrimination by a dominant group and separatism by a weaker group. Consistent with the predictions developed, cross-sectional instrumental-variables estimates and other evidence indicate that government restrictions on commerce promote separatism and conflict and hamper trust. Economic freedom is thus argued to be a key if thus far largely neglected force for ethnic cooperation within states, consistent with the empirical findings for nation-state interactions.

Madness as a political factor

Psychiatrists and psychoanalytic discourse played a significant role in generating the ethnic conflicts that ignited the Balkan war of the 1990s. Interpreted and politicized by Serb psychiatrist/politicians Drs. Jovan Raskovic and Radovan Karadžic, the Balkan Oedipus became a totalizing social theory for post-socialist subjectivity. Raskovic's (1990) book Luda Zemlja [A Mad Country] provided psychoanalytic justification for ethnic separation and advocated Serb ‘irrational delirium’ as a liberating political force. Radovan Karadžic became notorious as the architect of the Bosnian genocide. The discursive construction of Balkan identity made the region particularly vulnerable to the ethno-analysis promulgated by those two psychiatrists.

Political intolerance as a clog in the wheel of democratic governance: The way forward

This paper synoptically discusses the concept of political (in)tolerance and its implication on any democratic setting alongside with the concept of governance. Against this background, it argues that most African states took over from centralized and unrepresentative colonial ethnic and religious separatism – tribalism – and become victims to centrifugal aspirations of ambitious politicians speaking in the name of ethnic, religious and regional minorities (Esman, 1997). This monocratic political order (which derives from the Hobbesian notion/conception of the state) not only failed as a system but led to serious in tolerance and in some cases disastrous consequences for the economy and people of Africa (Olowu, 1995). And as a result, enormous amount of money is being spent worldwide on questions of political tolerance. Political intolerance and lack of debate, according to literature, had caused retardation in ideas, innovation, creativity and growth of political consciousness among people due to the fear of misconception of such ideas by their political opponents or fellow comrades. This makes democratic transitions arduous thereby threatening the consolidation of democracy. Political tolerance is not easy to practice. However, its exercise, without jettisoning social justice or the abandonment or weakening of one's conviction will promote a culture of political pluralism. This, without any controversies, will guarantee peace and harmony which is a cornerstone of democratic consolidation. For democratic engine to be well propelled, regardless of any strategy, the best public policy should arise out of citizens’ willingness to imbibe positive values as well as any other attribute and be ready to tolerate the expression of a plurality of political opinions, including those different to their own. This is essential because, instrumental to good democratic governance is human beings with positive values and other dimensions of human performance that enable social, economic and political institutions to function and remain functional, over time (Adjibolosoo, 1995). Key words: Political (in)tolerance, democratic governance, political consciousness, monocratic, democratic engine, positive values, centrifugal aspiration, ethnic and religion separatism, social justice, hobbessian, democratic consolidation.

Victim of a "War of Ideologies"

The five-day war between Russia and Georgia dramatically changed the political situation in the South Caucasus. Although Azerbaijan was not directly involved in the conflict, the war nevertheless forced Baku to reevaluate its foreign and domestic policies. Moscow's successful military intervention in Georgia forced Azerbaijan to distance itself from the United States to avoid antagonizing a belligerent Russia. Meanwhile, the inability of the Western countries-the United States in particular-to adequately respond to Russia led to large-scale public disappointment among Azerbaijanis. The crisis also generated new sources of instability for the entire post-Soviet space, not only because it highlighted a new form of Russian revisionism but also because it brought to the fore the limits of Western policies in what Kremlin views as its sphere of influence.1 Moscow clearly showed its claims over the South Caucasus and demonstrated its readiness to embark on military confrontation to achieve its goals. The postwar situation indicated that Azerbaijan could become the next site where U.S.-Russian rivalry will arise. The Russian government's decision to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia has led Azerbaijan to fear that Moscow would try to give similar support to the ethnic Armenian population in the region of Karabakh if Azerbaijan aligns itself too closely to the West.Much has been written about the Russia-Georgia War's impact on foreign policy, energy projects, and the clash of geopolitical interests. However, scholars and researchers have generally overlooked the influence of the war on domestic policy, political development, and changes in public perception. One of the assumptions of realist theory, which shapes the paradigm that underlies much of the theoretical understanding of political science, is that states are unitary actors and that domestic politics can be separated from foreign policy.2 Unfortunately, the complexity of the problem in Azerbaijan has made it difficult to distinguish between domestic and foreign politics. The absence of any visible developments in domestic politics, the silence of political scientists and public figures, and an inactive and docile public have coalesced to limit research on the problem.In this article, I aim to analyze the domestic development in Azerbaijan and establish causality between certain events and the Russia-Georgia crisis. I look at the Azerbaijani public's changes in perception to see whether any changes occurred because of the conflict. I then examine the domestic security issues facing Azerbaijan and the government's reaction to these events. Finally, I examine political development in Azerbaijan after the war.Public Opinions, Changing Perceptions, and ExpectationsThe war put Baku in a very delicate position. Refusing to support an important ally would have negatively affected Azerbaijan's image both abroad and in the eyes of a public that was clearly on the side of neighboring Georgia. The Azerbaijani government, however, tread lightly, not wanting to say or do anything that might provoke Russia or lead to a deterioration of relations with Moscow. Azerbaijan instead chose a strategy of soft support for Georgia while refraining from making harsh statements against Russia. On the day following the Georgian operation in South Ossetia, Khazar Ibrahim, the press secretary for Azerbaijan's foreign ministry, stated only that Azerbaijan favored a solution to the South Ossetia conflict based on the territorial integrity of Georgia and Georgian adherence to international law.3 Azerbaijan's support for Georgia in this conflict is understandable. After the Soviet Union's demise, the relations between Azerbaijan and Georgia have been consistently cordial. Both countries shared similar problems, such as ethnic separatism, an aggressive Russian policy in the southern Caucasus, and a common goal of integration into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). …

Accounting for separatist sentiment in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the North Caucasus of Russia: a comparative analysis of survey responses

A tenet of modern studies of nationalism is that mobilized nations will want to live separately from members of other groups to achieve ethno-territorial goals. A comparison of attitudes to a question on preferences for ethnic separatism for two zones of conflict, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the North Caucasus of Russia, reveals large differences both between and within the regions. For the 2,000 respondents surveyed in each region in December 2005, more than half of those in Bosnia-Herzegovina believed that geographic separatism would improve the state of ethnic relations while the comparative figure for the North Caucasus was only 14 per cent. When examining sub-categories of the ethnic groups in each region, traditional social science factors, such as religiosity, material status and levels of ethnic pride, yielded significant differences but more so for Bosnia-Herzegovina than for the North Caucasus. Intuitive factors, such as experience with violence during the wars, were not consistently revealing and significant. The best explanations for separatist sentiment in both locations were geographical location (individual towns and counties) and respondents’ levels of general trust.

Negotiable Rights? China's Ethnic Minorities and the Right to Freedom of Religion

AbstractIn order to get a fuller picture of the conditions for religious freedom for ethnic minorities in China, we must both look beyond laws and central policies as well as beyond the more publicised cases of religious suppression in Tibet and Xinjiang, both hot-spots of party-state concerns of ethnic separatism. The province of Yunnan – where one-third of the population are members of one of 26 different recognised ethnic minorities – presents a more nuanced picture of the conditions for practicing religion in the People's Republic of China. This article argues that in the case of China we need to expand the concept of implementation by taking into account the public discourse that accompanies the laws and policies on both religion and ethnic minorities. Local officials and intellectuals belonging to ethnic minorities in Yunnan have been successful in exploiting public discourse on 'religious freedom' and 'cultural rights of ethnic minorities' in order to revive or reinvent traditional religious practice.

<i>Fenians, Freedmen, and Southern Whites: Race and Nationality in the Era of Reconstruction</i> (review)

Reviewed by: Fenians, Freedmen, and Southern Whites: Race and Nationality in the Era of Reconstruction David Prior Fenians, Freedmen, and Southern Whites: Race and Nationality in the Era of Reconstruction. By Mitchell Snay (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2007. xii plus 218 pp. $40.00). Mitchell Snay's important new book examines some neglected topics concerning America's post-Civil War Reconstruction. Most broadly, this concise, comparative study reminds readers that Reconstruction was profoundly shaped by transatlantic ideas concerning nationalism and by the continuing power of the discourse of republicanism. Snay accomplishes this by examining three movements during early Reconstruction—the diasporic struggle for Irish independence from Britain, the political mobilization of southern freedpeople, and the efforts by former Confederates to preserve a white supremacist order in the South. Snay argues that these movements, antagonisms notwithstanding, organized [End Page 1045] similarly, had at least the potential to develop and pursue separatist agendas, and were restrained from doing so by the discourse of republicanism and the Republican Party's hegemony in national politics. This carefully researched work will prove a provocative read for both specialists and advanced undergraduates. Snay's introduction defines his key concepts of civic, ethnic, and proto nationalism. For Snay, civic nationalism denotes devotion to a territorial state motivated by ideas of common citizenship. Ethnic nationalist movements, in contrast, form around notions of membership in exclusive groups defined by allegedly inherited cultural or racial characteristics. A proto-nation exists when a people have the potential to develop a nationalist consciousness. During Reconstruction, Snay argues, the persistence of the discourse of republicanism combined with the civic nationalism of Republican Party policies and principles to turn the energies of Fenians, freedpeople, and southern whites away from potential or actual desires for ethnic nationalist separatism and toward the ideal of citizenship. Snay's first chapter offers a detailed look at the development of the Fenian movement, the spread of Union League Clubs among southern freedpeople, and the terror of the Ku Klux Klan. Here, Snay stresses that Reconstruction was at heart a political process involving the expansion of federal power, voting rights, and the Republican Party. The Union League movement and the KKK developed as political organizations deeply involved with these contested developments. Irish Americans found themselves indirectly involved in the politics of Reconstruction as northern Democrats and Republicans fought over their votes. Snay notes the ongoing power of the discourse of republicanism, explaining how southern whites argued that concentrated power, here in the form of the Republican Party, threatened liberty. In his second chapter, Snay explores the similarities among the KKK, Union Leagues, and the Fenian movement, noting that all were semi-secret, fraternal societies that developed paramilitary capabilities. Each organization, moreover, could, with some justification, animate traditional republican concern that it sought to subvert or manipulate normal electoral processes. Because these organizations were liable to such criticism from their opponents, republicanism can be seen as another force encouraging Irish Americans, freedpeople, and southern whites to pursue their agendas along civic lines. Snay's third chapter explores the possibility that desire for and attachment to land promoted the development of class consciousness and collective identity within these three groups. He argues that concerns over land did not facilitate stronger group consciousnesses or movements for ethnic separation and autonomy. Instead, the continuing influence of republicanism led freedpeople and southern whites to aspire to individual and not collective land holding, while the mostly urban Fenians discussed land ownership primarily to dramatize British oppression. Among freedpeople, this tendency was further reinforced by their connections to the Republican Party with its free labor ideals. As a result, republicanism and Republican Party hegemony inhibited the development of class consciousness and ethnic nationalism. Chapters four and five explore the development and interplay of separatist ethnic nationalism and civic nationalism. Republican values were changing during the Civil War and early Reconstruction, with many developing a more organic [End Page 1046] understanding of the nation and greater support for state centralization. Critical too, clearly, was a deepening commitment to civic ideals. Snay then examines his three subjects and finds that, while ethnic nationalism was weakest among freedpeople and strongest among southern whites, what stands out is their...

Popular Music and Identity in Quebec

Introduction In his book Banal Nationalism, Michael Billig demonstrates that nationalism is by no means a peripheral phenomenon, present in ethnic separatist movements but removed from common states. (1) Instead, citizens are perpetually reminded of their national identities by symbols such as flags, coins, national anthems, and political discourse. are constantly bombarded with competing political discourse regarding whether Quebec is a nation or a distinct society and whether form a people, but such explicitly political discourse is not really nationalism. Billig writes: The metonymic image of banal nationalism is not a flag which is consciously waved with fervent passion; it is the flag hanging unnoticed on the public building. (2) Perhaps the most visible arena of symbolic conflict occurs in the battles over flags in Quebec, but popular culture is another arena where differences between Quebecers and Canadians manifest themselves. Others have noted the importance of popular culture in reinforcing a Quebecois identity. In particular, the development of language television has led to the emergence of a class of Quebecois celebrities and television shows that appeal almost exclusively to Quebecers. Louis Balthazar writes that television has enabled to see a new image of themselves transmitted--an image that serves to reinforce a common identity, one that excludes Francophones outside of Quebec. (3) Furthermore, most of these shows probably have little audience among Anglophones within Quebec, who have a far greater choice of television options in their own language. Thus, television may serve to reinforce linguistic differences. This article will consider how popular music also influences perceptions of national identity in Quebec. Francophone have increasingly identified themselves as rather than as French or simply as Canadian. (4) Self-identification as Quebecois(e) has been linked to support for sovereignty. For example, in one survey of college students, 82 percent of those students who considered themselves to be more Quebecois(e) than Canadian supported sovereignty, whereas only 4 percent of those considering themselves to be more Canadian than Quebecois(e) and only 12 percent of those sharing both identities equally supported sovereignty. (5) At the societal level, the constant reinforcement of a Quebec-centered identity is undoubtedly crucial for sustaining an environment where sovereignty is viewed as a reasonable alternative. In Quebec, where two identities are in competition, the ever-present markers of Quebecois, rather than Canadian, identity are an important asset for those who argue that Quebec should be sovereign, and the question of how a Quebec-centered identity has become ascendant within Quebec deserves study. Music and National Identity Benedict Anderson famously describes nations as and emphasizes the importance of newspapers in defining such communities by providing their readers with a shared stock of common national referents. (6) More recently, Tim Edensor has argued that radio and television are critical in situating individuals within a national imagined community. (7) Popular songs tell about social groups--stories that form part of a narrative that helps individuals find their place in the world and develop a political identity, creating what Bruno Roy describes as the collective imagination of a group. (8) Maureen Whitebrook writes that persons understand their own lives as stories and that without the structure of life would be unintelligible. (9) A song that tells a compelling story about one's group may have more impact than would an account in a history book. For example, the (sometimes) fictional individuals whose are told in songs often serve as role models for how real individuals should act. …

Between Ethnic Separation and Assimilation: German Immigrants and their Athletic Endeavours in their New American Home Country

Historically, much of nineteenth and early twentieth century American sport was ‘ethnic based’. Theoretical thoughts on ethnicity and assimilation will be introduced, along with a brief overview of the limited research on ethnic sports of the European-American population. This article addresses the German-American sporting experience. Due to its success during its first decades of existence, the Turner movement receives detailed attention before the focus shifts to the Buffalo Germans, a well-known basketball team in the early 1900s. The turners exemplify the multiple ways physical culture or sport aided in the socialization and assimilation processes of German immigrants, while still allowing them to retain their ethnic identity.

Primary School Choice and Ethnic School Segregation in German Elementary Schools

This study focuses on school choice processes and how they contribute to ethnic school segregation. The starting point is a heuristic framework on school selection decisions with a sequence of three stages: the perception of school alternatives, the evaluation of these alternatives, and eventually school access. In a step-by-step investigation of these stages, different mechanisms that may account for ethnic differences in school choice are discussed. The empirical assessment is based on a school choice survey on primary school selections in families of Turkish and German origin in the German city of Essen. The results reveal that, from the district schools available, Turkish children are more likely than German children to enter a school with a relatively larger proportion of foreign nationals, a pattern that in the aggregate seems to contribute to an increasing ethnic separation at the school level. Rather than originating from ethnic differences in evaluation or school access, the parent perception is of primary importance. Because of their unfamiliarity with Essen's elementary system, Turkish families frequently pay attention to only a single school. The option they consider is typically the one that accommodates more foreign nationals than the alternative district school.

Bashing the Migrant Climbers: Interethnic Classification Struggles in German City Neighborhoods

AbstractThis article examines the symbolic order of the relationships between various social groups in disadvantaged neighborhoods and shows that ethnicity is the main reference point of derogatory designations or ‘negative classifications’. Using two districts in German cities as examples, the semantic patterns of mutual negative classifications among autochthonous individuals and their Turkish neighbors are reconstructed. Upwardly mobile individuals of Turkish origin are the most frequent targets of stigmatization. This fact is explained by the existence of a deep symbolic dimension of social inequality that conceives of ethnicity in terms of kinship relations. The socially inclusive or exclusive effects of negative interethnic classifications and the related classification struggles depend on three factors: the internal, i.e. gradual or categorical logic of the classification patterns; the form and process of conflict resolution; and the social contexts in which negative classifications are used. While the disintegrating effects of negative classifications are curbed by institutionalized norms in local politics and economic life, there only exist informal performative norms of interaction in the life‐world, and here these classifications can more easily lead to social exclusion and ethnic separation.

Research Report: Maintaining Margins: The Politics of Ethnographic Fieldwork in Chinese Central Asia

Introduction In contemporary China, conditions for doing fieldwork are increasingly dependent on locality. sensitive border region of Xinjiang, historically dominated by minority nationalities resistant to incorporation within the Chinese polity, has long been difficult.' Researchers gained unprecedented access to the region following the re-emergence of the social sciences as officially sanctioned disciplines in China in 1979. Yet that access has been under continual threat. pro-democracy campaign and the Tiananmen incident of 1989, the collapse of Marxist-Leninist parties in Eastern Europe in 1989, the Baren uprising of April 1990 in south Xinjiang and the collapse of the USSR and formation of independent Central Asian states in 1991 fueled a growing desire for independence among Xinjiang's majority Uyghur nationality.2 Uyghur-Han tensions climaxed in the Ghulja [Ch. Yining] riots of 5-6 February 1997, leading to a sharp intensification of the Strike Hard anti-separatist campaign.3 Subsequently, the events of 11 September 2001 and the war against terror have in the view of some observers provided the state with a means of repackaging disaffected Uyghurs as Islamic terrorists. Under these steadily worsening conditions, field research in the region has come under intense state scrutiny/ State politics, moreover, are only one facet of the difficulties faced by researchers in the social sciences in Chinese Central Asia. interpersonal politics of gender, culture, religion and values intertwine with state politics during the negotiation of research roles. This paper examines the intersection of state and interpersonal politics during fieldwork through the lens of shifting margins: the margins of the state, gender margins, intercultural and religious margins. It draws on a total of fifteen months' research conducted between 1995 and 2004. After a brief discussion of the difficulties of survey research and secondary sources, I focus on the more informal methods I chose to rely on to collect my data. Domestic Politics and Data Collection In Xinjiang, official documents, scholarly sources, statistical information and media reports must be treated with caution. Since 1949, state censorship has meant that much published literature is little more than a vehicle for promoting CCP policy. As one Chinese scholar put it: The publishing houses in China are in fact governmental ministries ... Basically the conditions are that you can't oppose the Communist Party ... 5An unusually high degree of censorship and self-censorship pervades official and academic publications in Xinjiang, where Chinese officials and scholars are extremely reluctant to discuss politically sensitive topics such as conflict between ethnic groups.6 This is especially true in the field of history, where China's scholars have generally been obliged to mold their interpretations according to the interests of the Communist state. In Xinjiang, the problem is exaggerated since the state must represent history so as to legitimize its colonial presence.7 dangers of drawing predominantly from official and scholarly Chinese accounts can be seen in Michael Dillon's recent book. Dillon relies heavily on translated extracts from Xu Yuqi's History of the Struggle against Ethnic Separatism in Xinjiang. While undeniably rich, these extracts present a handful of separatists as caring little about their people while Chinese security forces are presented in an artificially positive light. Dillon neither problematizes these passages nor compares the perspectives of Chinese officials with those of Uyghur actors. lack of engagement seems to result from the author's wish to approach the Xinjiang question with balance and objectivity, a task he admits is not easy given the extreme partisanship of the protagonists.s In China, officially released statistics are often incomplete, and the researcher must question whether data has been politically generated or edited. …

An analytical history of terrorism, 1945–2000

This paper traces the history of modern terrorism from the end of the Second World War to the beginning of the twenty-first century. It divides that history into three stylized waves: terrorism in the service of national liberation and ethnic separatism, left-wing terrorism, and Islamist terrorism. Adopting a constitutional political economy perspective, the paper argues that terrorism is rooted in the artificial nation-states created during the interwar period and suggests solutions grounded in liberal federalist constitutions and, perhaps, new political maps for the Middle East, Central Asia and other contemporary terrorist homelands.

The Legal Response of the League of Nations to Terrorism

Terrorism was first confronted as a discrete subject matter of international law by the international community in the mid 1930s, following the assassination of a Yugoslavian king and a French foreign minister by ethnic separatists. The League’s attempt to generically define terrorism in an international treaty prefigured many of the legal, political, ideological and rhetorical disputes which came to plague the international community’s attempts to define terrorism in the fifty years after the Second World War. Although the treaty never entered into force following the dissolution of the League itself, the League’s core definition has been highly resilient and has influenced subsequent legal efforts to define terrorism. While the League’s 1937 Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Terrorism is often referred to obliquely in international legal discussions of terrorism, the drafting of the Convention has seldom been intensively analysed. By closely examining its drafting, this article elucidates how the drafters of the Convention agreed on a definition of terrorism, and why they rejected alternative definitions. In doing so, it hopes to refresh and enliven current international debates about definition in the wake of the United Nation’s sixtieth anniversary year, which saw renewed emphasis placed on the quest for definition.

Ethnic Separatism

The paper outlines the main characteristics of ethnic separatism as a process. It then analyses two theories designed to explain the resurgence of reactive peripheral identity, the Internal Colonial thesis and the role of the ethnic intelligentsia. Some of the inherent contradictions in the Parti Québécois's attempt to create a genuine Québécois nation through the promotion of French culture are explored as are some of the pitfalls of a referendum on Sovereignty-Association.

Sri Lankan Terrorism: Assessing and Responding to the Threat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)

Sri Lanka has been besieged by ethnic separatism, nationalism, and an enduring ethnic conflict between its Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority for decades. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are the strongest militant nationalists and fiercest terrorist group in Sri Lanka. They are fighting for an independent Tamil nation and are famous for their aggressive use of suicide terrorism. The LTTE has grown into a transnational network and poses a significant threat to international security that has been poorly assessed and inadequately addressed. Policy recommendations are made regarding the LTTE’s suicide terrorism campaign and its global terror network.