Hello folks.

I'm going to be posting the notes beforehand, as per request by the night section of 240. This way, you can copy and print these notes before class, and follow the flow of the lesson without worrying about writing everything down.

Here are the notes from Monday. I apologise for formatting issues, I hope to make it much cleaner in the coming weeks.

Also, just a reminder - I will be holding office hours on Thursday morning from 11 am to 12 pm, which will be held on the third floor of the library. To be doubly sure that I will be there, I suggest you shoot me an email if you intend to come during this time so I can be sure to meet with you.

And now, for Monday's notes.


Lesson 3 - Nationalism and Ethnicity
Society: a collection of people bound by shared institutions that define how human relations should be conducted
How do YOU define yourself?

Identities SHAPE politics - Armenia/Azerbaijan debate
Canadian/US debate

Ethnic identity:
-- specific attributes and societal institutions that make one group of people culturally different from others
-- often based on customs, language, religion, or other factors
-- ascriptive, generally assigned at birth
-- doesn't HAVE to be political
ETHNICITY: specific attributes and societal institutions that make one group of people culturally different from others
Book says people CHOOSE their identities --- is that necessarily the case?
Example: Handel, born German, became UK citizen
There is no set criteria for being a separate ethnicity - for instance, Bosnian case - really only religion separated them
Sometimes, ethnicities really aren't all that different - Hutus and Tutsis, for instance

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION - built out of the environment and society we live in

NATIONAL IDENTITY - Based on concept of NATION - a group of people bound together by a common set of political aspirations (self-government and sovereignty)
Often derived from national identity (but not always)
Inherently political
It's the basis for NATIONALISM: pride in one's people and belief
They have a unique political destiny - Example: Quebec

However - minority groups and ethnic groups don't always necessarily want to separate from their nation

Ethnicity can lead to nationalism if a distinct group develops political aspiration as a way to assert or defend its own uniqueness.

For instance - Quebecois felt they were UNDER ATTACK from anglophone canada, had to fight to preserve French culture/language -
Bill 101 - everything bilingual

However, ethnicity doesn't always lead to nationalism.

Can nationalism exist without ethnicity?

Book says yes - national identity CAN be constructed even when a common or dominant ethnic identity is absent. Ex: United States

Other ideas regarding the origin of nationalities:

PRIMORDIAL, INVENTED, CONSTRUCTIVIST

Primordialism - believes the modern nation is a representation of age-old cultural patterns

NATIONALISMS always existed. People were always Croats, Uighurs, Tuaregs

Human beings have always had the need to organize themselves into groups.

From this, nationalities emanated.

Thus, ethnicities have:
1. SENSE OF CONTINUITY

2. SHARED MEMORY

3. COLLECTIVE DESTINY
they have a unique political destiny
Example: Quebec

"Ancient Hatreds" - Robert Kaplan\'s book on the Balkans

NATIONALISM AS INVENTED - Benedict Anderson

- IMAGINED COMMUNITIES

says a NATION is SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED and ultimately 'imagined' by the people who perceive themselves as part of that group.

explain what it means to be imagined

role of the novel - enabled individuals to identify with their fellow countrymen for the first time

also - reference scene from English Patient

Arnold argues that "nations and nationalism are products of modernity [Industrial Revolution] and have been created as means to political and economic ends

Let's talk about Gellner

He said: "Nationalism is primarily a political principle that holds that the political and the national unit should be congruent."

In the pre-modern world (agriculture) rulers had little incentive to create a cultural homogeneity on the ruled

But in MODERN (post-industrialized) society - work becomes more SPECIALIZED

Need learning, need schooling - creates a standard language, standard culture

There is more cooperative work - so you need to be able to COMMUNICATE with others

Hence, the development of ethnicity

Now, one more debate within Nationalism

Ethnic (Eastern) vs Civic (Western)

Civic -typified by Western, democratic state, rule of law, freedom of the press, freedom of conscience, free elections, adult suffrage,
seen to be separate from RELIGION and CULTURE
should be neutral to the ethnic groups within the state
espouses diversity

UK ---> but not always the case

Ethnic/illiberal Nationalism-
Eastern European
Nation existed BEFORE state, therefore state PROTECTS nation
obviously favor individuals from their race/ethnicity
Estonia
Easier to create than civic ones

Is there a problem with this dichotomy (division)?
Doesn't take history into consideration - Eastern ethnicities and boundaries are much more complicated, and they've had less time to figure it out than the Western nations
Most nations lie somewhere in the middle
Where do we draw the line in defining nationalism? Deaf nationalism, queer nationalism - can we accept these as valid?

Citizenship and Patriotism:
Citizenship - another form of self-identification, is a PURELY POLITICAL identity
Citizenship:An individual\'s relationship to the state - individual swears allegiance to it, and state provides benefits and rights"
purely political, easier to change

It\'s the basis for PATRIOTISM

Citizenship is a bit more INCLUSIVE than ascriptive ethnicity

still depends on ethnicity and nationality
-- example: France - has hard time integrating Muslim immigrants into French society

some areas of Germany also have trouble


Different forms of nationalism:
Michael Hechter (Containing Nationalism, 2000


STATE-BUILDING NATIONALISM: The active incorporation of diverse regions and culturally distinct peoples into a single, larger identity governed by a single, larger state, with the goal of creating a homogenous whole from the heterogenous parts. (Russian empire)

IRREDENTIST NATIONALISM: The intent or attempt to extend state boundaries to include territories populated by one's co-nationals, though administered by an adjacent state. (Tibet)

UNIFICATION NATIONALISM: The movement to merge politically divided, but culturally homogenous, regions and territories under one state. (Kurds)

There was an idea among scholars that eventually nationalities and ethnicities would fade away. "Local" identities would give way to "cosmopolitan" identities, and would end parochialism

However, now scholars understand ethnicity as something very real and unlikely to fade. The end of the Cold War really brought out people's ethnicities, and we've seen a jump in the number of ethnic conflicts.

Sources of Ethnic Conflict - Why do some groups seem to get along, while others erupt into war?Ethnic conflict: different ethnic groups struggle to achieve certain political or economic goals at each other's expense

National conflict: one ethnic group attempts to establish its own state

Ethnic conflict examples: Afghanistan, Yugoslavia

Nationalist examples: Algeria, Rhodesia, India

Combined: Fall of the Soviet Union

Conflicts emerge in different ways:
Top down - do leaders instigate these conflicts?

Take the case of Franjo Tudjman in Croatia and Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia
Stalin Central Asia

Bottom up - do the people instigate these conflicts?

Originates when long-standing friction , competition, or grievances occcur

Need a history of hostility or violence between groups

Pakistan and India - only need a little push to go into all-out war

Very rarely are these causes SOLELY bottom up or top down - as in all things political, there are a MULTIPLICITY of factors that lead to these problems

Take Bosnian example to show how it works both ways

Another reason for ethnic conflict: THE NUMBER OF ETHNICITIES VASTLY OUTNUMBERS THE NUMBER OF STATES (3,000 to 191)

We need to remember that it also took the West a long time to come to a period of peace. Hence, why ethnic conflict usually takes place outside of the developed world.

END OF IMPERIALISM -The nation-state is a relatively new development in the rest of the world. Used to being part of empires.

IMPOSED BORDERS - often didn't follow the boundaries of ethnic groups

Example: Nigeria (Yoruba, Ibo, Hausa-Forlani)

Created ethnic groups at times where there were none, to prevent uprisings and rebellions

Rwanda - a worthy case to look at

Thus, created fixed ethnic identities

When Belgians left in the 1960s, much ethnic conflict, culminating in the massacres of 1994, in which 500,000 Tutsis were killed in 8 days

"We wish to inform you that tomorrow you will be killed"

Hotel Rwanda

PATTERNS OF ETHNIC CONFLICT

A. Communal violence
-can result from the intermingling of groups

- can be distributed so haphazardly that you can't divide through territoryn-- India and Beirut - very volatile mix
given to sporadic and violent outbursts

B. Repression of Ethnic Enclaves--enclaves created through imperial exhaustion (collapse of empires/ creation of new states with areas left over).

Ethnic groups in these enclaves have both contemporary affiliations to, and historic claims upon, the territory that they inhabit-- examples: Kurds in Turkey, Baluchis in Pakistan

however, violence most likely to occur when the enclaves have PATRON STATES on or near the borders of REPRESSIVE states...hence, Russians in the Baltic states, Moslems in Bosnia, Azeris in Armenia

C. Irredentism and Retrieval-- Irredentism: one state's attempt to claim or reincorporate contiguous territory occupied by ethnic kinsmen

Alsace-Lorraine in France after Franco-Prussian War
Now - Tajiks in Afghanistan, Russians in Kazakhstan, Azeris in Iran
Irredentism has been a by-product of transition and uncertainty in the international order. Irredentist propensities may lie dormant for years and then erupt when interstate arrangements are destabilized. The latent and overt phases of irredentism are therefore closely connected to occurrences in the international arena in general and regional politics in particular.

D. Secessionist Movements
-- do not always start with an ethnic group wanting independence - but usually always ends up in ethnic conflict
-- example: Chechnya
-- due to failures in integration and assimilation
-- feel that they can't compete in the state
-- usually will always cost them economically
-- but, separatists feel that independence is worth the price to pay - they want control over their own land
-- Two specific cases of secessionist movements are worth noting because of their potential effects on regional stability and military strategy. The first is the violent but successful independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. This secessionist victory sets a precedent that may contribute to a domino effect throughout Africa, where some degree of regional stability had been achieved by the acceptance of colonial borders, no matter how arbitrarily they may have been drawn.