Ben Hillman and Gray Tuttle (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231169981
- eISBN:
- 9780231540445
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231169981.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Asian Politics
Despite more than a decade of rapid economic development, rising living standards, and large-scale improvements in infrastructure and services, China’s western borderlands are awash in a wave of ...
More
Despite more than a decade of rapid economic development, rising living standards, and large-scale improvements in infrastructure and services, China’s western borderlands are awash in a wave of ethnic unrest not seen since the 1950s. Through on-the-ground interviews and firsthand observations, the international experts in this volume create an invaluable record of the conflicts and protests as they have unfolded—the most extensive chronicle of events to date. The authors examine the factors driving the unrest in Tibet and Xinjiang and the political strategies used to suppress them. They also explain why certain areas have seen higher concentrations of ethnic-based violence than others. Essential reading for anyone struggling to understand the origins of unrest in contemporary Tibet and Xinjiang, this volume considers the role of propaganda and education as generators and sources of conflict. It links interethnic strife to economic growth and connects environmental degradation to increased instability. It captures the subtle difference between violence in urban Xinjiang and conflict in rural Tibet, with detailed portraits of everyday individuals caught among the pressures of politics, history, personal interest, and global movements with local resonance.Less
Despite more than a decade of rapid economic development, rising living standards, and large-scale improvements in infrastructure and services, China’s western borderlands are awash in a wave of ethnic unrest not seen since the 1950s. Through on-the-ground interviews and firsthand observations, the international experts in this volume create an invaluable record of the conflicts and protests as they have unfolded—the most extensive chronicle of events to date. The authors examine the factors driving the unrest in Tibet and Xinjiang and the political strategies used to suppress them. They also explain why certain areas have seen higher concentrations of ethnic-based violence than others. Essential reading for anyone struggling to understand the origins of unrest in contemporary Tibet and Xinjiang, this volume considers the role of propaganda and education as generators and sources of conflict. It links interethnic strife to economic growth and connects environmental degradation to increased instability. It captures the subtle difference between violence in urban Xinjiang and conflict in rural Tibet, with detailed portraits of everyday individuals caught among the pressures of politics, history, personal interest, and global movements with local resonance.
Andrew A. G. Ross
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226077390
- eISBN:
- 9780226077567
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226077567.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter studies the emotional dimensions of ethnic conflict, focusing on the early stages of nationalist mobilization in Serbia and Kosovo between 1987 and 1991, and the incitement of genocide ...
More
This chapter studies the emotional dimensions of ethnic conflict, focusing on the early stages of nationalist mobilization in Serbia and Kosovo between 1987 and 1991, and the incitement of genocide in Rwanda between late 1990 and 1994. This analysis takes the constructivist critique of “ancient hatreds” a step further, positing the category of “hatred” as an abstraction that obscures the complex emotional processes involved in violent conflict. The chapter shows how political speeches, crowd activities, and reburial rituals created environments in which diverse sentiments and memories were creatively blended into the emotional politics of violence. The cases studied involved wide-reaching and multi-dimensional processes of mobilization that theories of identity construction, elite manipulation, and symbolic politics have yet to appreciate. Dispensing with simplistic images of discrete and fixed emotions, this chapter explores the emergent, socially generated affective circulations that influence violent conflict— often independently of ethnic identity.Less
This chapter studies the emotional dimensions of ethnic conflict, focusing on the early stages of nationalist mobilization in Serbia and Kosovo between 1987 and 1991, and the incitement of genocide in Rwanda between late 1990 and 1994. This analysis takes the constructivist critique of “ancient hatreds” a step further, positing the category of “hatred” as an abstraction that obscures the complex emotional processes involved in violent conflict. The chapter shows how political speeches, crowd activities, and reburial rituals created environments in which diverse sentiments and memories were creatively blended into the emotional politics of violence. The cases studied involved wide-reaching and multi-dimensional processes of mobilization that theories of identity construction, elite manipulation, and symbolic politics have yet to appreciate. Dispensing with simplistic images of discrete and fixed emotions, this chapter explores the emergent, socially generated affective circulations that influence violent conflict— often independently of ethnic identity.
Renaud Egreteau
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190620967
- eISBN:
- 9780190686468
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190620967.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Asian Politics
This chapter explores the deepening of religious and ethnic cleavages in the 2010s, attempting to evaluate their impact on the ongoing transitional process. It investigates the new round of ...
More
This chapter explores the deepening of religious and ethnic cleavages in the 2010s, attempting to evaluate their impact on the ongoing transitional process. It investigates the new round of inter-ethnic peace parleys which President Thein Sein’s administration has embarked on since 2011. It then looks at religious and moral values, alongside the place and influence of “outsiders” in Myanmar’s society. These are themes which have recently resurfaced in public debate, as well as punctual and localized inter-communal violence. A handful of radical Buddhist associations have begun to regain a voice in the public space and have fostered debate on the involvement of the state in religious affairs. Thus monastic organizations have re-emerged as powerful actors seeking to shape public values and influence policymakers within the walls of the new parliament.Less
This chapter explores the deepening of religious and ethnic cleavages in the 2010s, attempting to evaluate their impact on the ongoing transitional process. It investigates the new round of inter-ethnic peace parleys which President Thein Sein’s administration has embarked on since 2011. It then looks at religious and moral values, alongside the place and influence of “outsiders” in Myanmar’s society. These are themes which have recently resurfaced in public debate, as well as punctual and localized inter-communal violence. A handful of radical Buddhist associations have begun to regain a voice in the public space and have fostered debate on the involvement of the state in religious affairs. Thus monastic organizations have re-emerged as powerful actors seeking to shape public values and influence policymakers within the walls of the new parliament.
Andrew A. G. Ross
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226077390
- eISBN:
- 9780226077567
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226077567.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This book explores the complex and creative role of emotion in global politics. From casual observers to trained experts, people care about challenges such as terrorism, violent conflict, and ...
More
This book explores the complex and creative role of emotion in global politics. From casual observers to trained experts, people care about challenges such as terrorism, violent conflict, and humanitarian crises; these are not just technical problems demanding solutions but also matters possessing emotional urgency and appeal. Political problems acquire emotional significance when they involve human suffering, political controversy, and other qualities of pressing moral concern. But, as this book shows, emotional intensity is also shaped by lived experience of events, communicative practices, and social interactions. The book studies emotional dimensions of global politics by investigating they way everyday social interactions intensify, harmonize, and blend the emotional responses of participants. It begins with on-the-ground events such as protests, speeches, and commemoration rituals and then traces the emotions they evoke among co-participants— both elites and ordinary people, near and far. Revisiting well-studied civil conflicts from the 1990s, as well as the War on Terror from the 2000s, the book uncovers emotional effects missed by research trained on identities, institutions, or interests. Drawing widely from current research in neuroscience, microsociology, and cultural theory, the book reconceptualizes the social genesis of emotion and their distinctive impact on global politics.Less
This book explores the complex and creative role of emotion in global politics. From casual observers to trained experts, people care about challenges such as terrorism, violent conflict, and humanitarian crises; these are not just technical problems demanding solutions but also matters possessing emotional urgency and appeal. Political problems acquire emotional significance when they involve human suffering, political controversy, and other qualities of pressing moral concern. But, as this book shows, emotional intensity is also shaped by lived experience of events, communicative practices, and social interactions. The book studies emotional dimensions of global politics by investigating they way everyday social interactions intensify, harmonize, and blend the emotional responses of participants. It begins with on-the-ground events such as protests, speeches, and commemoration rituals and then traces the emotions they evoke among co-participants— both elites and ordinary people, near and far. Revisiting well-studied civil conflicts from the 1990s, as well as the War on Terror from the 2000s, the book uncovers emotional effects missed by research trained on identities, institutions, or interests. Drawing widely from current research in neuroscience, microsociology, and cultural theory, the book reconceptualizes the social genesis of emotion and their distinctive impact on global politics.
Madurika Rasaratnam
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190498320
- eISBN:
- 9780190638580
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190498320.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Asian Politics
This chapter analyzes the consolidation of incompatible Sinhala Buddhist and Tamil nationalist conceptions of national identity and interest in the post-independence era. It argues that this was not ...
More
This chapter analyzes the consolidation of incompatible Sinhala Buddhist and Tamil nationalist conceptions of national identity and interest in the post-independence era. It argues that this was not an inevitable outcome of ethnic demography or institutional design. Rather it required both the absence of a developed pan-ethnic conception of national identity as well as active and ongoing mobilization to overcome politically salient intra-Sinhala and intra-Tamil cleavages of caste, region and religion. It shows how the consolidation of these movements brought together a diverse array of actors with varying motivations and interests. The escalation of the ethnic conflict and the associated political and economic marginalization of the Tamils are thus shown to be outcomes of incompatible nationalist projects rather than elite interests or outbidding. The politically dominant Sinhala Buddhist nationalism was violently hostile to Tamil demands for equality and conversely Tamil nationalism spurred escalating resistance to political and economic marginalization. The violent conflict between these incompatible nationalist projects has since defined Sri Lanka’s domestic and increasingly its international politics.Less
This chapter analyzes the consolidation of incompatible Sinhala Buddhist and Tamil nationalist conceptions of national identity and interest in the post-independence era. It argues that this was not an inevitable outcome of ethnic demography or institutional design. Rather it required both the absence of a developed pan-ethnic conception of national identity as well as active and ongoing mobilization to overcome politically salient intra-Sinhala and intra-Tamil cleavages of caste, region and religion. It shows how the consolidation of these movements brought together a diverse array of actors with varying motivations and interests. The escalation of the ethnic conflict and the associated political and economic marginalization of the Tamils are thus shown to be outcomes of incompatible nationalist projects rather than elite interests or outbidding. The politically dominant Sinhala Buddhist nationalism was violently hostile to Tamil demands for equality and conversely Tamil nationalism spurred escalating resistance to political and economic marginalization. The violent conflict between these incompatible nationalist projects has since defined Sri Lanka’s domestic and increasingly its international politics.
Madurika Rasaratnam
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190498320
- eISBN:
- 9780190638580
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190498320.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Asian Politics
Why are relations between politically mobilized ethnic identities and the nation-state sometimes peaceful and at other times fraught and violent? This book sets out a novel answer to this key puzzle ...
More
Why are relations between politically mobilized ethnic identities and the nation-state sometimes peaceful and at other times fraught and violent? This book sets out a novel answer to this key puzzle in world politics through a detailed comparative study of the starkly divergent trajectories of the “Tamil question” in India and Sri Lanka from the colonial era to the present day. Whilst Tamil and national identities have peaceably harmonized in India, in Sri Lanka these have come into escalating and violent contradiction, leading to three decades of armed conflict and simmering antagonism since the civil war’s brutal end in 2009. The book links these differing outcomes that emerged from similar starting conditions and comparable historical conditions to distinct and contingent patters of political contestation and mobilization in the two states. Indian patterns of political mobilization and contestation produced a nation-state inclusive of the Tamils, whilst in Sri Lanka a different pattern of politics produced a hierarchical Sinhala Buddhist nation state hostile to Tamils and their claims. The analyses situate these dynamics within changing international contexts and set out how these once largely separate patterns of national-Tamil politics, and Tamil diaspora mobilization, are increasingly interwoven in the post-war internationalization of Sri Lanka’s ethnic crisis. The processes of national identity are therefore central to the analysis of ethnic conflict and have implications for its management.Less
Why are relations between politically mobilized ethnic identities and the nation-state sometimes peaceful and at other times fraught and violent? This book sets out a novel answer to this key puzzle in world politics through a detailed comparative study of the starkly divergent trajectories of the “Tamil question” in India and Sri Lanka from the colonial era to the present day. Whilst Tamil and national identities have peaceably harmonized in India, in Sri Lanka these have come into escalating and violent contradiction, leading to three decades of armed conflict and simmering antagonism since the civil war’s brutal end in 2009. The book links these differing outcomes that emerged from similar starting conditions and comparable historical conditions to distinct and contingent patters of political contestation and mobilization in the two states. Indian patterns of political mobilization and contestation produced a nation-state inclusive of the Tamils, whilst in Sri Lanka a different pattern of politics produced a hierarchical Sinhala Buddhist nation state hostile to Tamils and their claims. The analyses situate these dynamics within changing international contexts and set out how these once largely separate patterns of national-Tamil politics, and Tamil diaspora mobilization, are increasingly interwoven in the post-war internationalization of Sri Lanka’s ethnic crisis. The processes of national identity are therefore central to the analysis of ethnic conflict and have implications for its management.
Manlio Graziano
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780231174626
- eISBN:
- 9780231543910
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231174626.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter describes the comeback of religions to the political arena in the 1970s.
This chapter describes the comeback of religions to the political arena in the 1970s.
Madurika Rasaratnam
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190498320
- eISBN:
- 9780190638580
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190498320.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, Asian Politics
This book explains the divergent resolutions of the Tamil question in India and Sri Lanka, despite comparable conditions, to the different conceptions of national identity that emerged through ...
More
This book explains the divergent resolutions of the Tamil question in India and Sri Lanka, despite comparable conditions, to the different conceptions of national identity that emerged through contingent political processes beginning in the late nineteenth century. Indian political processes produced a national identity inclusive of key Tamil demands while in Sri Lanka a different set of processes produced a hierarchical “Sinhala first” identity hostile to Tamil claims. The comparison shows that these outcomes were not inevitable but depended on coordinated and sustained political activity. There are important implications for ongoing international attempts to build an inclusive peace in Sri Lanka. The Indian example shows that ethnic inclusivity is an outcome of complex and contingent political processes and not a pre-existing condition to which politics will revert in the absence of conflict. International actors cannot therefore engineer inclusive politics but can use their considerable sanctions and incentives to change the conditions of ethnic conflict. International actors should create the space for meaningful Tamil political autonomy by forcing practical steps such as de-militarization of the Tamil areas and the repeal of anti-terror legislation. This intervention would reorient Sinhala Buddhist politics away from majoritarian repression and Tamil politics away from nationalist resistance.Less
This book explains the divergent resolutions of the Tamil question in India and Sri Lanka, despite comparable conditions, to the different conceptions of national identity that emerged through contingent political processes beginning in the late nineteenth century. Indian political processes produced a national identity inclusive of key Tamil demands while in Sri Lanka a different set of processes produced a hierarchical “Sinhala first” identity hostile to Tamil claims. The comparison shows that these outcomes were not inevitable but depended on coordinated and sustained political activity. There are important implications for ongoing international attempts to build an inclusive peace in Sri Lanka. The Indian example shows that ethnic inclusivity is an outcome of complex and contingent political processes and not a pre-existing condition to which politics will revert in the absence of conflict. International actors cannot therefore engineer inclusive politics but can use their considerable sanctions and incentives to change the conditions of ethnic conflict. International actors should create the space for meaningful Tamil political autonomy by forcing practical steps such as de-militarization of the Tamil areas and the repeal of anti-terror legislation. This intervention would reorient Sinhala Buddhist politics away from majoritarian repression and Tamil politics away from nationalist resistance.
