Session 10
John Hutchinson and Anthony Smith ed., Ethnicity, Oxford Readers, 1996,
pp. 3-14, 32-51, 86-98, 275-347
pp. 275-347
Section VII: Ethnic Conflict and Nationalism
As in other sections of this book, Section VII is composed of a series of very short excerpts by
various scholars on ethnic conflict and nationalism.
“Internal Colonialism,” by John Stone
Stone provides an overview of several scholars’ arguments on “internal colonialism.” He raises
many issues and states that no definitive conclusion can be reached on the concept.
The origins of “internal colonialism” date back to the 1930s when the term was used to
characterize the relations between the North and the South in the U.S. The analogy between
colonial domination and the racial and ethnic communities within industrial societies has since
become increasingly explicit. Scholars have used the concept to study inter-regional conflicts in
various regions.
“Ethnic Soldiers,” by Cynthia Enloe
Enloe shows how colonial administrations sought to classify, divide, and absorb colonized
populations in ethnic terms, and accorded special roles to peripheral groups such as the so-called
“martial races.”
All ethnic groups commonly labeled as inherently “martial” (eg. Gurkhas, Bedouin, Scots, Sikhs,
Maori, Mongols, etc.) have been geographically distinct, usually occupying territories on the
regional peripheries of the state. From the viewpoint of the state, the perfect “martial race” was
an ethnic group that was both martial and loyal. The state secured allegiance from these groups
by making it dependent on the state.
“Martial races” also share intracommunal characteristics that made them especially attractive to
outside recruiters. For the state, building a military has been an “ethnic enterprise” where
security planners looked at ethnic groups with an anthropologist’s eye.
“Symbolic Politics and Ethnic Status,” by Donald Horowitz
Post-colonial states are characterized by a concern with political domination by ethnic groups;
power is sought for its value in conferring status, and this finds expression in the pursuit of
symbolic goals, such as language.
In severely divided societies, symbols have a “deadly significance.” Symbolic conflict arises often
in status politics, especially in post-colonial societies. The objective of symbolic demands is a
public affirmation of legitimacy where legitimacy is contested.
“Indigenous Peoples and the State in Latin America,” by Florencia E. Mallon
In Latin America, indigenous ethnic movements against the state have been recurrent. The
different political responses of their Indian communities are the result of dissimilar modern
experiences in plural states like Peru, Bolivia and Mexico.
The Indians of central Mexico are identified as impoverished peasants, and are supposedly
looked down upon as rural poor rather than as Indians. Anthropological and historical literature
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for Mexico reflects this division between a mestizo core and an indigenous periphery.
In Peru, the political construction of “Indianness” is bipolar: eg. Indian highlands vs. white and
mestizo coast; or white and mestizo cities vs. Indian countryside. Peruvian social science has
reflected and reconstructed these dualisms.
In Bolivia the construction of Indian and white ethnicities has been more varied in terms of
regions and ethnicities: eg. Quechua and Aymara plateau vs. Quechua and mestizo valleys; or
white elites vs. Indian popular classes.
In all three countries, the different political and intellectual constructions of ethnicity have had an
impact on the role played by indigenous cultures.
“Ethnicity and Politics in Pakistan: The Baluch Case,” by Selig H. Harrison
In Pakistan, the state favors larger, central groups at the expense of smaller, more peripheral
communities like the Baluchs. This produces a political stalemate—the Baluchs cannot achieve
their territorial goals, while the Pakistani state was unable to use Islam to dilute ethnic allegiances
and create a unified nation.
The Baluch is the smallest minority in Pakistan, the most alienated from Islamabad, and the most
responsive to secessionist appeals. There is now a widespread Baluch nationalist consciousness
that cuts across tribal divisions. However, Islamabad tends to think of Baluch society solely in
terms of its traditional tribal character.
“The Politics of Ethnicity in India,” by Paul Brass
In his broad overview of ethnicity and caste in modern India, Brass emphasizes the role of the
modern, unifying state in recognizing ethnic cleavages.
Brass discusses five main issues: 1) State recognition as a critical factor in explaining some
ethnic and cultural movements; 2) the relationship between specific policies pursued by the
central state and the regional cultural entities; 3) the unevennness in rates of social change
among different social groups; 4) the extent to which people from different ethnic and cultural
groups find themselves in competition for the same niches in the division of labor in society; and
5) the levels of political action and levels of ethnic loyalties.
“Ethnicity, Nationalism and Democracy in South East Asia,” by David Brown
Brown questions why countries which have many similarities in the cultural pluralism of their
societies vary greatly in the character and consequences of their ethnic politics.
The relationship between ethnicity and nationalism depends in part on the type of state
nationalism adopted in a particular country. Here, two formulations of the nation are the “political
nation” and the “cultural nation.” But the use of these two concepts in the construction of a nation
leads to ambiguities and complexities in ethnic politics.
It is not the cultural attributes themselves which define and generate ethnic attachments, but
rather the patterns of status, power and economic insecurities in the social environment.
“Women, Ethnicity, and Nationalism,” by Deniz Kandiyoti
Ethnic nationalism has had ambiguous effects on the status of women, both confining them as
mothers in the home and liberating them as participants in the struggle for national emancipation.
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On the one hand, nationalist movements invite women to participate more fully in collective life by
allowing them to be “national actors, eg. mothers, educators, workers and even fighters. On the
other hand, they reaffirm the boundaries of culturally acceptable feminine conduct and exert
pressure on women to articulate their gender interests within the terms of reference set by
nationalist discourse.
“Diasporas and International Relations,” by Milton J. Esman
Diaspora people, host society, and homeland form a triangular relationship that is conducive to
support for nationalism in the homeland. Migrants tend to maintain strong links to their countries
of origin. The ability of diasporas to influence the course of events is conditioned by their access
to resources, the opportunities offered by the host society, and their degree of solidarity.
Self-Determination as an International Issue,” by Hakan Wiberg
Wiberg explores the different conceptions of the term “people” from a legal and international
standpoint, in which the right of national self-determination has become restricted to ex-colonies.
Ethnic claims for national independence which do not fit this conception have led to state
repression and raised serious international problems. Wiberg also expresses pessimism with
regard to self-determination so long as we judge the position of international law by the record of
the UN, since the UN has little support for populations living inside the territories of recognized
sovereign states.
“Conflict-Regulation in Deeply Divided Societies,” by Sammy Smooha and Theodore Hanf
Smooha and Hanf study different strategies of ethnic conflict regulation and apply the models to
various geopolitical conflicts.
They present eight categories of alternatives of conflict management: 1) ongoing violence; 2)
partition after violence; 3) preemptive partition; 4) unstable domination; 5) stable domination; 6)
accommodation after violence; 7) one-way accommodation; and 8) preemptive accommodation.
They also present four strategies of conflict regulation: 1) partition; 2) ethnic democracy; 3)
consociational democracy; and 4) liberal democracy.
“Eliminating and Managing Ethnic Differences,” by John McGarry and Brendan O’Leary
The authors first examine modes of conflict elimination, which include 1) partition, 2) mass
population transfer, and 3) secession. They then discuss conflict management through
hegemonic control (coercive and/or co-optive rule which successfully manages to make
unworkable an ethnic challenge to the state order).
“Post-Soviet Ethnic Conflict and International Politics,” by Ray Taras
Taras explores four conditions under which ethnic conflicts within states might spill over into the
international arena and the Pan-European institutions that might contain them: 1) ethnic conflict
and resulting instability may tempt outside powers to intervene in order to maximize their selfinterest; 2) when an ethnic group is spread over more than one state but is a majority in none, it
can cause ethnic strife arising in one state to spill over to another; 3) conflict can arise when a
dominant group in one state is separated from co-nationals making up a minority in another state;
and 4) disaffected ethnic groups can resort to terrorism.
He asks whether this revolt of ethnic “subgroups” against the national states is a threat to the
formation of state liberal democracies in Eurasia.
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