Ethno-national Groups Research Articles

Control Democracy, Institutional Decay, and the Quest for Eelam: Explaining Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka

O n 25 January 1998, just ten days before Sri Lanka celebrated fifty years of independence, three Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels crashed an explosives-filled truck through the gates of the country's most revered Buddhist temple, damaging its roof and facade. Had the inner sanctum, which Buddhists believe holds a tooth of Lord Buddha, been destroyed, the island would most likely have undergone ethnic rioting on a scale greater than that experienced during the 1983 pogrom. The Temple of the Tooth's significance to the island's Buddhists was communicated by one bystander who pleaded, You terrorists, kill us, eat us, but don't attack our shrines where Buddha lives.' The bombing ultimately killed sixteen people, injured over twenty-five others, provoked the deputy defense minister to tender his resignation and forced the government to move its vaunted festivities from the temple premises in Kandy to Colombo. At the ensuing independence day parade, Sri Lanka's president referred to the ethnic conflict between the country's majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils and noted, We have failed in the essential task of nation building.2 Indeed, Sri Lanka stands as a classic example of how state building can fail when one ethnonational group (in this case the Sinhalese) attempts to build a religio,juridico and politico-economic society by excluding its minorities. In trying to account for Sinhalese nationalism and the ensuing conflict, some scholars point to Buddhism's two millennia influence and its impact in shaping an indelible Sinhalese consciousness, while others emphasize the colonial presence with its attendant cultural and economic influences and

Feelings of Fraternity in Canada: An Empirical Exploration of Regional Differences

How are feelings of fraternity distributed within nation-states? This paper deals with the status dimension of ethnic stratification in Canada, and specifically with the way comfort levels with a whole range of ethno-national group labels vary between Canadian regions. Previous research found that the Canadian population gives the highest status evaluations to those of British origin, with evaluations following a downward gradient through various European origins, with the lowest evaluations being reserved for “non-whites.” This article presents further analyses of data from the 1991 Canadian Multiculturalism and Citizenship attitude survey (N=3,325). Detailed breakdowns of comfort levels are presented for Canada's main regions, and special attention paid to patterns evident in Canada's three largest cities, namely Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. The lowest comfort levels with most group labels are displayed in Quebec, and the highest levels are displayed in British Columbia. Since the latter province was the setting of much anti-Asian agitation in earlier decades, and has been a major destination for Asian immigration to Canada in recent decades, this regional difference is an interesting aspect of the current Canadian scene. These findings are set against the backdrop of other research on regional differences in Canada.

Bosnia and Hercegovina: A Tradition Betrayed

In Bosnia and Hercegovina: A Tradition Betrayed, Donia and Fine Shatter the myth that the former Yugoslavia has been plunged into civil strife by the end of the Cold War. To prove this point they examine Bosnia's rich historical traditions in light of the conflict that erupted there in 1992. The authors explain the origins of Bosnia's major ethnonational groups in the religious conversions of the Middle Ages and under the Ottomans as a prelude to the transformation of its principal religious communities into twentieth-century nationalities.Taking issue with the widespread perception that ancient rivalries and primordial ethnic hatreds among the Serbs, Muslims, and Croats are behind the tragedies occurring today, Bosnia and Hercegovina emphasizes instead the rich tradition of diversity, pluralism, and toleration that has developed over centuries and flourished until very recently.