Ethnic Conflict Research Articles

Факторы, осуществляющие обеспечение этнополитической безопасности России

The presented scientific work focuses on examining a number of key factors that can significantly impact the provision of ethnopolitical security in Russia. This study raises several issues regarding the current state of ethnopolitical security in the country, as well as the role and place of technological progress, which exerts a substantial influence on modern society, including the sphere of ensuring the country’s ethnopolitical security. In the context of Russia, this issue becomes particularly relevant given its multinational composition and the diversity of ethnic groups. The introduction of innovative approaches and technologies to address the challenges of ensuring ethnopolitical security in Russia may contribute to more effective management of interethnic conflicts, prevention of tensions, and the maintenance of stability within the country. Ethnopolitical security is one of the key components of national security, since ethnic conflicts and contradictions can destabilize the political system and lead to social upheavals. In the context of a multinational state, such as Russia, ensuring ethnopolitical security becomes a matter of paramount importance, requiring in-depth scientific analysis and the development of effective strategies.

Empire, redux: Towards a new political geography of race war

This essay revisits geographical debates on empire to clarify how broader geopolitical economies of power and violence have always been experienced at the scale of the everyday as an intimate politics of relation- and difference-making. It is guided by two questions that promise to stretch geographical writing on empire in new ways. They are: how has empire always been a racial project? And how has imperial race-making historically gone hand-in-hand with imperial place-making? Both questions force us to reckon with empire as a multi-scalar project that entangles the foreign and the domestic, the intimate and the global, and so on.

Ethnic conflicts and their relationship with temperature change in the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its vicinity during the past 2000 years

In the context of global warming, the study of climate change and its impacts has garnered significant attention. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with its unique natural environment and socio-cultural significance, plays a crucial role in climate change and the development of the Chinese nation. Investigating the historical interactions, development, and socio-climatic background of the nomadic groups on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and agricultural ethnic groups in eastern China contributes to understanding the intrinsic mechanisms of how climate change affects the social interconnectivity of different ethnic groups. This paper is founded on an analysis of 450 conflict events between these groups, as reflected in ancient Chinese war chronicles and ethnic relations annals, creating a decadal conflict sequence from the Eastern Han to the Qing Dynasty (25AD-1910AD). The study conducts a correlation analysis and phase-wise statistical comparison between the climate research findings and the ethnic conflict sequence, specifically examining their relationship with temperature. The main findings are: (1) From the Eastern Han to the Qing Dynasty, a total of 876 conflicts occurred between the ethnic groups in the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its vicinity (averaging 4.6 conflicts per decade), with 62.1% initiated by the Ethnic groups on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and 66.6% won by the Ethnic groups in eastern China; (2) The frequency of conflicts is primarily correlated with temperatures in the Eastern region, with a less distinct correlation in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. During overall warmer periods, conflict incidents were more frequent, with a higher proportion initiated by the Ethnic groups on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Conversely, in colder periods, there were fewer conflicts, with an increased proportion initiated by the Ethnic groups in eastern China; (3) Unlike conflicts between the Ethnic groups in northwestern and eastern China, the Ethnic groups on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau's external expansion was not a primary objective, indicating that the conflicts were mainly driven by regional economic strength and land productivity. The temperature can reduce land productivity by limiting the growth potential of crops and livestock or by reducing the advance to restrict their production. As a result, water resources, as a condition of land productivity variation, and climate became significant backgrounds for ethnic interactions.

Solomon Islands Police Perceptions of Australian and New Zealand Policing Assistance

Police reform is a critical component of peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and reintroducing stability in countries emerging from conflict. The assumption is that without a secure environment and a security system, sustained peace, political, economic, and cultural rebuilding is impossible. Ethnic conflict in the Solomon Islands between 1998–2003 resulted in reform of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF), carried out by the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI). This institutional reconfiguration has been presented by the Solomon Islands government and RAMSI as a success and the gold standard for reforms in the Pacific. Despite this, internal stakeholder perspectives on the effectiveness and appropriateness of post-conflict institutional reform are absent. This work analyses and explores reflections and experiences of reform held by RSIPF officers at the mission’s culmination. It interrogates critical reflections on the changes during reform, examines key concerns and drawbacks, and advances literature on post-conflict scholarship.

Трудовые ресурсы в условиях военной опасности как ключевой фактор повышения промышленного потенциала

The article examines the problem of mobilising the industrial potential of Russia in terms of the growing military danger during SMO under decrease in the demographic and labour potential of the Russian Federation. The authors emphasize the effective involvement of labour resources is a key element for development of the industrial potential. Those are necessary to counter the increasing escalation of the military conflict and the desire of Western countries for military and political defeat of Russia. However, the reduction of labour potential and the aging of the population can cause serious socio-economic and political problems. A liberal approach to migration poses long-term threats to the State. Unregulated migration processes will inevitably cause an increase in unemployment, a decrease in the share Russian nation itself, loss of national identity, social tension, and cultural, ethnic, and religious conflicts. It requires a thorough systematised approach and effective monitoring of demographic trends. The state should find a balance between attracting labour from outside and increasing its own labour resources. It also should provide the rational use of existing labour resources.

EMBRACING DIVERSITY: THE ROLE OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN MITIGATING ETHNIC CONFLICT & FOSTERING UNITY IN PAKISTAN

This paper aims to analyze and synthesize whether multicultural education can serve as a means of easing the ethnic conflict and cultural diversity in Pakistan. The ethnic diversity of nations, languages, and cultures has been a strength and, simultaneously, a weakness due to conflicts. This study submits that it is possible to coordinate multicultural education in schools and make it important tool for improving understanding amid different communities. This paper relies on the review of current policies concerning the education systems and proposals drawn from case studies of multicultural societies to provide an understanding of the way forward for Pakistan in responding to the multicultural realities in its education systems that how incorporating multicultural perspectives into the curriculum can help students appreciate different cultures and reduce biases. According to studies, minimization of conflict amid different forms of identities is possible by adopting presented cultural-structural model, that may boost positive attitude toward multiple Pakistani identities and promote the enhancement of the social cohesion in the country.

Enhancing Student Well-being: Child-Friendly School Management in Conflict-Affected Areas

The relevance of this study lies in the urgent need to provide a safe, inclusive, and supportive educational environment for children in areas affected by social and ethnic conflict. This study highlights inclusive policies, psychosocial support, and community engagement in creating a supportive learning environment. This study used a qualitative method with a case study approach involving in-depth interviews, participant observation, and document analysis as data collection techniques. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and document analysis. The results showed that inclusive policies, psychosocial support through counselling and extracurricular activities, and teacher training in inclusive teaching methods effectively created a safe and supportive learning environment for students. In addition, empowering local communities and cultivating positive behaviours were essential in supporting student well-being. The implications of this study suggest that a holistic approach to school management can improve the quality of education and the well-being of children in conflict-prone areas and provide practical recommendations for other schools facing similar situations.

European experience in counteracting disinformation influences

Information-psychological influences, attacks, and operations do not have a physical manifestation but generate destabilizing internal and external processes within a state. These processes cause aggression, anxiety, and dissatisfaction among the population, potentially leading to open physical conflict. The use of the Internet enables extremist organizations to access mass media, spreading propaganda, informing about their goals, tasks, measures, and forms of support. The authors emphasize the significant impact of modern information and communication technologies on increasing threats to political stability and the security of any state. The aim of this paper is to highlight foreign experiences regarding organizational and legal measures that prevent the spread of disinformation, aimed at inciting hostility and hatred within a state. The study draws on experiences from large-scale protest actions, organized and coordinated through social networks on the Internet. The authors note that blogs, social networks, electronic maps, and video hosting sites are currently used without restrictions for political destabilization. Social networks enable immediate support from like-minded individuals and the publication of extremist materials, which contribute to the escalation of socio-political, ethnic, and interfaith conflicts. The main research methods are comparative analysis, statistical method, historical method, structural-functional method of cognition. Having studied the periods of formation of the system for countering the spread of disinformation in the EU, the authors concluded that the work on countering the spread of disinformation is conducted comprehensively and systematically and is constantly being improved in accordance with the challenges. In the EU countries, not only the practice of combating disinformation has been developed, but also an array of normative legal acts has been adopted to prevent the spread of disinformation. The European experience demonstrates the importance of a balance between freedom of speech and security measures in the information space. Such a comprehensive and conceptual approach should be the basis for creating a system for countering the spread of disinformation in Ukraine.

Teaching as Epistemic Mistrust

AbstractLong portrayed as a virtuous profession, teaching has always been embedded in notions of trust and trustworthiness. Alongside expectations of epistemic cultivation and development, is an implicit handing over of discretionary powers to ‘the trusted teacher’. At the height of #blacklivesmatter protests in 2020, however, high school learners all over South Africa took to social media—@yousilenceweamplify—to express their hurt and anger at their dehumanising experiences at some of the country’s leading schools. Their accounts not only exposed some schools as intense sites of racial, religious, cultural, ethnic, and linguistic tension and conflict, but shattered presumptions about ‘the trusted teacher’. Following a consideration of what trust infers, and the potential harms that arise from epistemic mistrust, the paper considers what might be gained from philosophical engagements in the espousal of teaching as a relationship of epistemic trust, and which ensures the flourishing of both learner and teacher? How might philosophy of education assist teacher education programmes in attuning students to an understanding that being trustworthy as teachers resides in self-knowledge as well as knowledge of the differences of, and among others?

The ethnic conflict over Karabakh in the context of the activities of the military-political representations of the Great Britain in the Transcaucasia (1918-1920)

In 1918-20s the steps of military politics of Azerbaijani were directed towards the frustration of Armenian State system. With this intention, Andranik’s and Dro’s forces were taken out, with the help of British generals Thomson and Shutleworth. This allowed Azerbaijani families on the 21 of August in 1912 make the Armenian council In Karabagh temporarily obey Azerbaijani Government till the solution of this disputable issue by the French conference of allied union, which was one of the beforehand planned cunningsteps of Azerbaijani government. In reality, as a result t of later important military changes in the Republic of Armenia and as a result of mutually beneficial agreement between Russian and Kemal Turkey as well as taking into consideration the evident connivance of allied powers during 1920-23 Azerbaijani managed to capture not only Nachijevan, but Karabagh and other Armenian lands, as well, the struggle for which restarted in 1988-1990.

Territorial autonomy and ethnic conflict: the Baloch ethnic question post-18th Amendment

ABSTRACT This article critically assesses the effectiveness of territorial autonomy under the 18th Constitutional Amendment in managing ethnic conflict in Pakistan's Balochistan province. It argues that limitations in the design and implementation of the federal provisions of the 18th Amendment have hindered the sustainable resolution of the ethnic conflict in Balochistan. Design-wise, the Amendment inadequately addresses key institutional factors that have historically contributed to Balochistan's marginalised status within the federation, notably the Senate's limited powers, non-ethnic-based provincial boundaries, and Baloch under-representation in core state institutions. Design inadequacies are exacerbated by poor implementation of the core federal provisions, especially related to natural resource ownership, local government, and the Council of Common Interests (CCI). Notable implementation hurdles include a persistent ‘centralist’ mind set, particularly pronounced within the military, actively seeking the overturn of the 18th Amendment. The persistence of the de-facto power of the military has undermined the efficacy of territorial autonomy as a conflict management tool.

Blood gambit: how autocratizing populists fuel ethnic conflict to reverse election setbacks – evidence from Turkey and Israel

ABSTRACT Through a comparative study of Turkey and Israel, this article highlights a specific strategy that autocratizing populist incumbents in ethnically divided societies utilize when they face election setbacks. A “blood gambit” entails fomenting violent conflict to keep the opposition divided along identitarian cleavages, while creating a rally-around-the-flag effect to help the incumbent win a renewed election. After failing to secure a parliamentary majority in June 2015, Erdoğan ended the Kurdish peace process and engineered repeat elections amidst heightened nationalist fervour and renewed conflict with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). These elections gave the Justice and Development Party (AKP) a majority and marked the beginning of its alliance with the ultranationalists. Following Israel’s March 2021 elections, Netanyahu increased state repression of Palestinians, which triggered interethnic violence and renewed confrontation with Hamas. The violence threw a wrench into coalition-building efforts between ideologically and ethnically diverse opposition parties. The comparison of Israel and Turkey as two countries with different majority religions, ethnic compositions and socioeconomic levels shows that “blood gambit” is not a parochial strategy. Our analysis also demonstrates that the outcomes of these strategies are shaped by differing institutional and political contexts, in particular, the extent of executive aggrandizement and the level of party fragmentation.

Cultural Imperatives on Indigenous Kinship Care among the Poumai Naga Tribe in Manipur, India

The increasing scale of human suffering in the world caused by disasters, wars, violence, conflicts, old age problems and other physical ailments has led to a high demand for care providers. Similarly, the demand for care providers in India is no different and arises from poverty, violence, communal riots, ethnic conflicts, development-induced displacements or climate change disasters. The problem of care has penetrated even into the domain of the private life of the family. Social practices associated with caring are highly valued in the sociocultural milieu. It is a new way of thinking about care that can be incorporated into the conception of social pedagogy. This study highlights the absence of intimate parental care due to many sociopolitical circumstances, which creates a vacuum in fostering early childhood care. The objectives were to determine the dilemmas faced by care providers in the limited resources division between their own and their kin’s child and the invisible social stigma associated with the tag of orphans. Kinship care practices among the indigenous Poumai Naga tribe involve alternative relational care to institutional care for children. The descriptive research design involved in-depth interviews with the elders, care receivers and care providers in the community. The article concludes that relational bonds, rather than obligatory senses, are the guiding factor for keeping children with them despite hardships and natural allure of sending them to institutional care.

TRILHANDO NOVOS CAMINHOS: PERSPECTIVAS INTERDISCIPLINARES NA HISTÓRIA GLOBAL

The study addresses the need for an interdisciplinary approach to a broader and deeper understanding of global history. Instead of restricting himself to a single discipline, such as history, anthropology or sociology, the author defends the integration of different areas of knowledge. This approach allows for a more comprehensive analysis of historical events, taking into account not only political and economic aspects, but also social, cultural and environmental aspects. By forging new interdisciplinary paths, researchers can explore complex connections and interactions between different cultures, societies and regions of the world. This includes the analysis of trade, migration, conflicts and cultural exchanges over time. Furthermore, the interdisciplinary perspective allows for a deeper understanding of people's individual and collective experiences throughout history. This includes the study of everyday practices, cultural identities, and symbolic representations that have shaped past and present societies. Through the integration of different disciplines, researchers can also address contemporary issues with a more informed understanding of the past. This includes analyzing pressing global problems such as climate change, social inequality and ethnic conflicts in light of lessons learned from history. In short, the adoption of interdisciplinary perspectives in global history is essential for a more complete and contextualized understanding of the world in which we live, allowing us to follow new paths of discovery and understanding.

An incoherent state‐identity approach to African regional disorder

AbstractIn contrast to the conventional literature, which suggests that African disorder underlies religious factors, strategic resources, and ethnic conflicts, this paper offers an analytical account of structural patterns in “State identity.” A new concept model of state identity is proposed through a designed framework for the identity‐building process and is justified by social theories and psychoanalysis. This study argues that historical and traumatic social parameters formed an incoherent state identity due to an interruption in the group‐nation state evolutionary process. No existing study articulates the construction of a self‐identity within the state's integrative process, its development (or interruption thereof) in a sub‐categorical identity, and its causal relation to conflicts; hence, the current study fills that gap.

Institutional Coadaptation Work: How Refugees and Provisioning Institutions Coadapt in Pursuit of Consumption Adequacy

Prior research on refugee migration documents the acculturation processes through which refugees adapt to the cultural context of the host society. In this research, the authors complement the insights from prior research by uncovering how the host society's provisioning institutions coadapt in response to the consumption adequacy needs of refugees. To understand these coadaptation practices, they gather qualitative data from low-income Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who were repatriated to India in the face of violent ethnic conflict. The data aid in theorizing the concept of institutional coadaptation work, defined as the dyadic coadaptation of refugees and a host society's provisioning institutions, to serve the consumption adequacy needs of refugees. This coadaptation perspective envisages change as a collective process in which agency is distributed among multiple actors in society. More specifically, this research provides focused policy recommendations explaining how the government, market, and community can work collaboratively to address consumption adequacy needs of refugees.

How to think about the instrumental politics of mass rape: a critical appraisal of feminist approaches

ABSTRACT Mass rape and other forms of sexual violence in ethnic conflict, as their incidence in Bosnian and Kosovo wars in former Yugoslavia showed in the 1990s, cannot be relativised along some strategy of either ‘victimization’ or ‘everyone is guilty’ within an antiquated framework of ethnic-religious hatred. In this case as in others, the local notions of honour and blood cannot be taken uncritically to be binding cultural traits that ought to determine social behaviour. Incidentally, they cannot either account for a structured ideology of ‘men’s war against women’, or for a postmodern feminist ideology of gender and the moral panic of a ‘patriarchal dream-order’ restored. In this article, I offer a critical appraisal of the stereotyped and relativising accounts of feminist and human rights scholars, a critique very much needed for an anthropological approach attentive to cultural ideology and activism. To understand the effectiveness of mass rape in a military strategy of ethnic cleansing, I suggest local cultural concepts and moral relativist ideas are not culturally given, but instrumental resources deliberately mobilised.

Black Marxism, Racial Capitalism, and Greek and Balkan Coloniality Studies: Toward an Abolitionist Perspective

The end of the Cold War marked the beginning of the Balkan and Greek postcolonial and de-colonial studies. The Yugoslav ethnic wars, the Greek “financial crisis,” and the European migration crisis generated a body of critical studies on regional nationalism, coloniality, and racialism and the Balkans and Greece's ambiguous relation to Europe. Cedric J. Robinson's Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition was missing from the large spectrum of postcolonial literature. This absence is surprising given that the book historicizes the simultaneous occurrence of colonialism, capitalism, racism, and modernity in the Balkan and the East Mediterranean during the late feudalism. The absence of this history from the Balkan's post and de-colonial studies deprives these studies of an abolitionist perspective; rather than opting for “provincializing Europe” empowered by this history of the native enslavements and colonization, these studies, much as Black radicalism should mobilize the region for the political culture for the abolition of “Europe.”

Identity and Ethnic Conflict in Northeast India: A Historical and Comparative Approach

Identity and Ethnic Conflict in Northeast India: A Historical and Comparative Approach

Dynamics of Ethnic Boundaries: Rethinking Insider-Outsider Dichotomy in Northeast India

Northeast India has a history of being strategically populated with non-tribal people since colonialism, leading to resentment among the indigenous population and the emergence of sub-nationalism rooted in local culture and history. This sub-nationalism asserts the insider-outsider dichotomy, (native tribal v/s non-native settler), resulting in ethnic conflicts and demands for secession. Amidst the region’s rich cultural diversity and the presence of numerous smaller ethnic groups, the contemporary literature from Northeast India, including poetry, fiction, nonfiction and drama, serves as a critical lens to unravel the dynamics of ethnic boundaries. Integrating Fredrik Barth’s notion of “ethnic boundaries,” which posits that migration and mobility, with their accompanying social processes of exclusion and incorporation, maintain distinct ethnic categories, this article attempts to analyze how contemporary literature from the region unveils the myth of the insider-outsider dichotomy at play. This will be examined through a nuanced interpretation of two contemporary novels from Northeast India, Mamang Dai’s The Black Hill (2014) and Anjum Hasan’s Lunatic in My Head (2007). By foregrounding Barth’s theoretic framework, the select novels decipher the underlying dynamics of exclusion and incorporation, challenging the conventional binary of “insider” and “outsider.” This study makes a noteworthy contribution to the discussions around society, ethnicity, and peace in Northeast India, using textual analysis method where literary narratives are interpreted in their sociopolitical contexts. It highlights the importance of challenging existing suppositions regarding ethnic identity and adopting a comprehensive and inclusive approach toward promoting peace in the region.