+

Ethnic conflict and its threats to democracy

Sebastiaan Debrouwere26th of July 2011

London School of Economics and Political Science

+Overview

Ethnic groups and nations

Ethnic conflict

Democratic values

Does ethnic conflict pose a threat to democratic values?

Solutions

+

I) Ethnic groups and nations

+I) Ethnic groups and nations

Nation Psycho-social bond that both joins and distinguishes people,

existing in the subconscious of members1

Not what is, but what people believe is (conceptual intangibility)

Ethnicity More chameleonic than nation Common cultural tradition and a sense of identity which

consists as a subgroup of larger society E.g. the Han-Chinese, the French, The Arabs (?)

1 Paraphrased from W. Connor Ethnonationalism: A Quest for Understanding (Princeton U.P., 1994)

+Ethnic groups and nations

Ethno nationalism Regressive phenomenon (revival of trends supposedly

eradicated by modernity) Nostalgia to former times of kinship (whether real or

imagined) Gradually renders co-existence in the same state impossible

E.g. Serbian ethno nationalism in post-Tito Yugoslavia: ‘Greater Serbia’ Demonization of Albanians in Kosovo Vengeful sentiments towards Croatia for WWII crimes

(Ustaše) Antagonisation by rising Islam fundamentalism in

Bosnia-Herzegovina

+Would you agree or disagree?

We […] are therefore able to imagine a State only to be the living organism of nationality which not only safeguards the preservation of that nationality but also […] leads to its highest freedom.

+Would you agree or disagree?

We […] are therefore able to imagine a State only to be the living organism of nationality which not only safeguards the preservation of that nationality but also […] leads to its highest freedom.

Hitler Mein Kampf (New York: Reinal and Hitchcock, 1940) p. 595

This illustrates the danger of fluid ideas about nation, state and ethnicity.

+Overview

Ethnic groups and nations

Ethnic conflict

Democratic values

Does ethnic conflict pose a threat to democratic values?

Solutions

+

II) Ethnic conflict

+Ethnic conflict

Grievances underlying ethnic conflict Territorial disputes Historical animosities Racism Sectarianism Cultural Conflicts Human rights abuses Unequal distribution of resources and political power

+Ethnic conflict

Theories about origins, nature and effects of ethnic conflict Primordialist School (Donald Horowitz)

relies on a concept of kinship between members of an ethnic group Can substitute ethnicity for underlying (e.g. institutional factors) in explaining

the causes and effects Instrumentalist School (Anthony Smith)

ethnicity and race are viewed as instrumental identities, “organized as means to particular ends”

ethnic difference alone is not sufficient to explain conflicts Constructivist School (Benedict Anderson)

concept of the imagined community (a nation as a socially constructed community)

Rwanda as an example since the Tutsi/Hutu distinction was codified by the Belgian colonial power in the 1930s. Identity cards were issued on this basis, and these documents played a key role in the genocide of 1994.1

1 Mahmood Mamdani (2001) When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press

+Overview

Ethnic groups and nations

Ethnic conflict

Democratic values

Does ethnic conflict pose a threat to democratic values?

Solutions

+

III) Democratic values

+Democratic values

De jure values1

Effective participation Equality of voting (caveat for ‘electoral fallacy’2) Enlightened understanding Final control over the agenda Inclusion of all adults Conclusion: Nomen est omen when considering these and other

rights

The contentious issue of the judiciary Is there an institutional bias in favor of the majority? Can constitutionalist evolutions overcome/attenuate the

democratic principle of government by majority?

1 R.A. Dahl On Democracy (Yale U.P., 1998)2 J.Linz and A. Stepan Problems of Democratic transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South-America and Post-Communist Europe (John’s Hopkins Press, 1996)

+Democratic values

De facto democracy in ethnically divided societies The democratic conundrum: If a majority decides to support

policies that violate the rights of minorities, is this undemocratic? Part. when national boundaries contain disaffected/unpopular

minorities (e.g. Roma in Hungary and Romania) Can institutional engineering solve this problem? Should majorities interfere with individual rights and

freedoms? The power of perception

Is the Athenian idea of public debate really respected? (i.e. are minorities really heard?) Control over media? Civil society Impartial arbitrage?

+Overview

Ethnic groups and nations

Ethnic conflict

Democratic values

Does ethnic conflict pose a threat to democratic values?

Solutions

+

IV) Does ethnic conflict pose a threat to democratic values?

+The threat posed by ethnic conflict

The nature of threats to the democratic status quo Pre-emptive threats in the realm of majoritarian politics (re-

active) Coercion Distributive conflicts Purposeful discrimination (economic, political, social, cultural)

Historical Group Demands1 (active)

Demands for equality of citizenship and individual rights Demands for group rights (i.e. explicit recognition of separateness)

Demands for cultural rights Demands for institutional political recognition Demands for secession

1 J. Coakley The Territorial Management of Ethnic Conflict (London: Frank Cass. 2003)

+The threat posed by ethnic conflict

Threats of conflict Facts: 127 civil wars (casualties > 1000) in the period of 1945 –

1999, with a total direct death toll of 16.3 million people1

Roughly equates to 5 times the interstate toll in the same period

These conflicts often present a threat to democratic values (even if these are not actually codified in the territory where the conflict is conducted) since they tend to violate ‘natural rights’ and justice alike in the course of the conflict

After conflict, the state-unit (whether newly carved out or still within the old structure) has a tendency to wither away, as its workings are still often undermined by ethnic rather than democratic considerations E.g. Lebanon (post-2006 murder of Rafik Hariri), Bosnia-

Herzegovina (dysfunctional state), Sri Lanka (worsening in political protection of Tamil minority)

+The threat posed by ethnic conflict

In conclusion, (simmering) ethnic conflict threatens The current workings of democracy by bypassing

democratic institutions, systems and procedures The continued existence of democracy (especially if the

conflic turns violent) The workings of post-conflict democracy are seriously

endangered

+Overview

Ethnic groups and nations

Ethnic conflict

Democratic values

Does ethnic conflict pose a threat to democratic values?

Solutions

+

V) Solutions

+Solutions

Coakley’s typology1

indigenization accommodation assimilation acculturation population transfer boundary alteration genocide

1 John Coakley (1992) The resolution of ethnic conflict: Towards a typology, International Political Science Review 13(4), pp. 343-358

John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary’s taxonomy 2

Methods for eliminating differences: Genocide Forced mass-population transfers Partition and/or secession (self-

determination) Integration and/or assimilation

Methods for managing differences: Hegemonic control Arbitration (third-party intervention) Cantonisation and/or federalisation Consociationalism or power-sharing

2 John McGarry and Brendan O’Leary (1993) ‘Introduction: The macro-political regulation of ethnic conflict’, in John McGarry and Brendan O’Leary (eds.) The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation: Case Studies of Protracted Ethnic Conflicts, London: Routledge, pp. 1-40

+Consociationalism: the ultimate solution? Case-study: post-Apartheid South-Africa, Dayton-accords in

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Advantages all groups are represented on the political and economic stage more realistic option in deeply divided societies than integrationist

approaches Democratic rights are often constitutionally protected

Criticisms specific conditions must exist for three or more groups to develop a

multi-party system with strong leaders (e.g. failure in Lebanon) Horowitz: relies on rival co-operation, which is inherently unstable Rights are given to communities rather than individuals Promotion of sectarianism?