International Studies Compendium Project

Extract

Comment on this article   From Rwanda to Bosnia, Northern Ireland to Sri Lanka – and beyond – a type of persistent violent conflict has arisen since the demise of the Cold War. These conflicts, often described as ethnic or genocidal, are typified by the extremely high value placed on identity and its protection by the participants. That is why ethnic, sectarian, and inter-communal conflicts are all linked as forms of identity-driven conflicts. In examining the literature on ethnicity and identity, and studying many of the current “ethnic” conflicts, it becomes apparent that there has been some conflation of the terms “ethnicity” and “identity.” In addition, commentators often misuse the term “ethnic conflict” to describe conflicts that are essentially sectarian in nature, such as the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Given this, it would be pertinent to begin our examination of ethnic identities and boundaries by revisiting classic and current definitions of our basic terms. The term “ethnicity” stems largely from anthropology and sociology, although it has been adopted to a large degree by political scientists and international relations specialists in their quest to understand a priori components of modern nationalist movements. Ethnicity is defined as belonging to a particular ethnic group, or as having an ethnic character, background or affiliation ( Abercrombie et al. 1988 ... log in or subscribe to read full text