STATES
Political units with sovereignty
(not nations)
Sovereignty
Exercise of power
over people and territory.
Boundaries recognized
by other states.
State territoriality
(“patriotism”)
Place identity based on political unit
“I am an American.” (Civil wars)
“I am a Nigerian.”
NATION
A cultural group with a territorial identity:
a sense of a “homeland”
Over 5,000 ethnic
“nations” cannot all
become states, yet
many are large
enough to survive
(larger than some states).
Ethnic territoriality
(“nationalism”)
Place identity based on ethnicity
Basques in Spain/France
Québecois in Canada
NATION-STATE
State with one nation
(none “pure” but some close)
Nearly all states multiethnic
(more than one nation)
Nation-States and Multiethnic States
National Congruence
Desire for state
boundaries to match
ethnic boundaries
* If majority does not
want minority
* If minority wants
self-determination
Boundaries of Albania
in different eras
Religious Territoriality
States defined by religion
Vatican
City
Saudi
Arabia
Vatican
City
Israel
Iran
Racial Territoriality
States defined by race
White supremacist map for
a racial partition of the U.S.
South Africa’s White
and Black areas under
Apartheid (racial
separation)
Core group
States are constructed around a
dominant ethnic, racial or religious group
English in U.K.
Russians in U.S.S.R. & Russia
Whites in U.S.
Majority nationalism
Equating “patriotism”
with “nationalism”
State usually represents
core group, but also needs
loyal minorities
Hindu mobs attack Indian
Muslim neighborhood
English attack
immigrants
KKK rally against immigrants, 1925
German skinheads
attack Turks
Minority nationalism
For “self-determination”
(ability to rule own lands)
Reaction to majority nationalism?
Puerto
Rico
East Timor
Lithuania
Irredentism
Joining ethnic minority with a
country where they are majority
Germany annexes ethnic German region of Czechoslovakia, 1938
Secession
Separation from state (independence)
French-speakers are minority
in Canada, but majority in Quebec.
Failed secession of Quebec
Inuit
Cree
English
Most French-speakers (blue)
voted for independence
of Quebec from Canada, 1995.
Quebec minorities
(English-speakers,
Native peoples, and
immigrants) voted “No”
State response: Coercion
Ethnocide
Genocide
(forced assimilation)
(extermination)
Hungarian sign defaced
in Romania.
Turks forced to
Change names in Bulgaria.
800,000 Tutsis killed
in Rwanda, 1994.
Also can be in Core
(Germany 1940s)
South African Apartheid
(racial separation), 1948-94
South African Black Homelands
“Bantustans” forced on Blacks
76% of
population
given 13%
of land;
denied
citizenship
in rest
(ethnocide)
State response:
Unitary system
Central government holds power;
No autonomy for ethnic minorities
State response:
Autonomy
Ethnic minorities
can rule themselves
in special regions
within the state
China settling
ethnic Chinese in
“autonomous”
regions
Autonomous
regions of Spain.
Flag of Catalonia
alongside Spain
and EU flags
Indian Reservations (autonomy)
Inuit (Eskimo) territory of Nunavut
1999
Canada
State response:
Ethnic Federalism
Territorial units
represent different
ethnic groups
Other large multiethnic
federations have failed
(Yugoslavia, USSR)
Languages and states of India
Confederalism
Devolution (transfer)
of most power from central
government to regions
Bosnia after civil war
ended in 1995, divided
into strong Serb and
Muslim-Croat regions
Confederacy
declared, 1861.
“States’ Rights”
after Civil War
ended in 1865.
Croatia,
Slovenia
(Catholic)
Serbia,
Montenegro,
Macedonia
(Orthodox)
Bosnia
(Muslim)
Kosovo
(Muslim part
of Serbia)
Six republics of Yugoslavia, 1945-1991
Yugoslavia break-up, 1990s
Ethnic Serbs
(outside Serbia)
for irredentism
Bosnians,
Kosovars
for secession
Ethnic cleansing
Forced removal of
an ethnic group
To make area ethnically “pure”
Serbs expelled
from Krajina
(Croatia), 1995
Albanians
expelled
from Kosovo
(Serbia), 1999
Former Yugoslavia Today
Slovenia 1990
Croatia 1991
Bosnia 1992
Macedonia 1992
Serbia & Montenegro
(remained “Yugoslavia”
until 2003)
Kosovo 1999
(officially part of Serbia)
Soviet Union (USSR) ethnic groups
Dominant (titular)
groups in 15
Soviet republics
All had minorities
14 republics outside
Russia had
Russian minority
Breakup of Soviet Union into 15 states, 1991
Ethnic Russians left outside Russia
Fears that
Russian
irredentism
would lead
to war
But ethnic
territoriality
not so strong
Ethnic minority regions in the new Russia
Russians fear one secession
would spread to all
Ethnic groups
in Southern
Russia and
the Caucasus
Chechens fight
for secession
from Russia
Armenians
fight
Azerbaijan
(irredentism
Russia attacks Chechen Muslims
(state territoriality)
Russians flatten Grozny,
capital of Chechnya, 2000
Why ethnic conflict?
Because difference
naturally cause
conflict?
But difference does
not always cause
conflict
Conflicts also erupt
between similar
peoples
Northern Ireland
(Catholics vs. Protestants)
Same race, language
Different religion
(and ethnic group? class?)
Loyalist
(Protestant)
and Republican
(Catholic) murals
in Belfast
Protestant majority
for staying in U.K.
Catholic minority
for joining Ireland.
Rwanda
(Hutus vs. Tutsis)
Same race, language,
religion
Different ethnic group;
one favored by colonialists
Genocide against
Tutsi minority, 1994
Bosnia
(Serbs vs. Muslims vs. Croats)
Same race, spoken language
Different religion,
script, “ethnic” group
Intermarried, cooperated,
1950s-80s; At war 1990s
Muslim and
Serb refugees
From Sarajevo
Somalia
Same race, language,
religion, and ethnic group !
Yet 1990s civil war
between clan militias
Contending theories
Ethnic hatred is
always there; politics
can keep a “lid” on it
Ethnic hatred is a tool
used for political and
economic power
Bosnia
partition plan
Communism collapses in
Eastern Europe, 1989
Croatian and Serbian leaders
stoke ethnic hatred after 1989
Ethnic conflict
as a tool to…
Mask economic hierarchy.
Divert majority citizens
from economic crisis.
Prevent poor of different
ethnic groups from uniting.