how to prevent ethnic conflict

Organizations work in diverse environments. Switzerlands multidimensional sub-populations, combining both languages and religions, are separated by both political borders in the form of cantons that are part of a federal system of governance, and physical boundaries formed by the countrys natural abundance of mountains and lakes. To answer this question, Cultural Survival has, for this issue of the Quarterly, invited distinguished scholars from all over the world to analyze ethnic conflicts in every corner of the globe. However, that principle also underlines the responsibility of the international community to prevent atrocity crimes by helping States to build capacity to protect their populations and assisting States under stress before crises and conflicts break out. Weak implementation can undermine the best-designed strategies. However, because the mandates of the missions related a great deal to minority issues, their closure would suggest that the Governments of those countries have taken important steps forward concerning the protection of persons belonging to national minorities over the past years. SSBCrack on Instagram: "On Saturday, the Indian Army found itself in a Discovering what people need to learn about intergroup relations is not an easy task, especially when the strategies are being implemented by an expert from outside the organizational unit involved. Migrations of a group of people with a shared history and population displacements can increase this tendency to form patches when a group settles together in a specific area. We respect individual differences in a society because of what each individual can contribute. Yugoslavian borders are quite different from those in Switzerland. What have been the major issues confronting you over the first six months? Main factors of Conflict Resumption Conflict duration, casualty, and type of conflict are the main factors related to a recurrence of conflict. As long as people move around and prefer to be near others of the same type, any system will display the same universal dynamic a general process that applies to diverse social systems and even materials formed of atoms or biological organisms formed of cells. 24 January 2023 Peace and Security. 1.2 Children's ethnic socialization 2 1.3 The new math of ethnic violence 4 1.4 Nature and dynamics of violent ethnic conflict 4 1.5 A caveat: double minority complexes 5 1.6 Ethnicity, education and nation-building 6 2. Time to Stop Disruptive Russian-Serbian Machinations in the Balkans But in this job, it is sometimes necessary to stick one's nose in where it may not be welcome. Malaysia is a classic case where there is a coexistence of some major ethnic groups with distinct identities and where the state has used wide . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Their analyses underscore a point that is now well accepted by scholars of ethnicity, namely that ethnic conflict is not the simple expression of the primordial instincts of humankind. They also generally didnt recognize the use of subnational boundaries for this purpose. The areas predicted as vulnerable to violence and actual incidents of violence have a 90 percent geographical correlation. Cultural Survival, Inc. is a non-profit organization with federal 501(c)(3) status. Fears of ethnic cleansing mount in Sudan's West Darfur. This insight provides guidance for how the worst of ethnic violence can be prevented. Latvia and Estonia remain two of my higher priorities at the moment. It was not the High Commissioner's decision to open or close the missions, and their closure has no formal bearing on my work. Prejudice is often specific to particular groups of people, even though an individual may be prejudiced against many different groups. Individuals have a natural tendency to choose to live near people similar to themselves. PDF Preventing Ethnic Conflicts: A Reconsideration of the Self - JCIE She also notes that it is this emphasis on development which poses the greatest threat to the smaller "indigenous" societies of Indonesia. Multiple ceasefires and international mediation efforts have failed to stop the conflict from escalating. The United Nations Security Council has stated in several of its resolutions that serious and gross breaches of international human rights and humanitarian law constitute threats to international peace and security. The CODA Consensus Panel examined numerous strategies it felt were worthy of implementation that incorporated only two or three of those principles. Self-governance at the neighborhood, municipal or district-level can offer communities a sense of autonomy and safety. The new states that issued from the former communist bloc are seen as being simply too heterogeneous in ethnolinguistic or ethnorelig ious terms to function as "normal" nation states. The Federation of Malaysia currently dubbed by its Tourism Authority as "Truly Asia" to showcase its ethnic diversity is in many ways an enviable, relatively successful, multi-ethnic country. Thus, strategies involving cooperative interdependence among persons of different races and ethnic groups should be carefully structured to ensure that all participants are encouraged to make useful and valued contributions to the group. However, there are also other significant reasons to focus on prevention. Intermediate patch sizes, patches of a particular size, are likely to be the culprit. The natural tendency to self-aggregate can be leveraged for peace if communities are given proper borders and self-governance over their own neighborhoods. | Donor Privacy Policy | EIN: 23-7182593. Any content older than 10 years is archival and Cultural Survival does not necessarily agree with the content and word choice today. Traditional studies of violence focus on the details of historical animosities, economic disparities, leadership, or social structures of different regions. Instead he urges Americans to live up to their ideals and practice the democratic inclusiveness that they preach. Each ethnic group has its own spatial region in which its own values, customs, and traditions are expected to apply in public spaces by default. Maps of Switzerland showing (A) proportion of linguistic groups according to the 2000 census, (B) elevation within Switzerland, (C) overlay of linguistic groups onto a digital elevation model, and (D) topographical features including lakes (blue) and ridges extracted using edge detection (cyan). Preparation is especially important when the particular strategies focus on sources of conflict or involve confrontationas in activities where participants are asked to express their true feelings, to play the role of prejudiced persons, or to get all of their frustrations on the table.. Dozens of peoples never sent out groups of men with the intent to kill others. Once ethnic conflict breaks out, it is difficult to stop. Consider, for example, those teachers who do not see the relationship between efforts to improve intergroup relations and the responsibility they have to teach stu dents about a given subject. Not surprisingly, some will miss the mark, leading participants to view the strategies as superficial. Despite violence in Nepal since the Thus, teaching lessons focused on relations between any given two groups may not affect the prejudices being held against the people of a third group. The design principles developed by the CODA panel are meant to provide guidelines for action to those selecting or developing strategies to improve intergroup relations. And it is my impression that my interlocutors are grateful for the discretion, which has already been helpful in certain situations. Ethnic conflict - Wikipedia And some of these programs focus on the treatment of and attitude toward a single racial or ethnic group. While they may have succeeded for a time, violence eventually broke out. Traditional studies of violence focus on the details of historical animosities, economic disparities, leadership, or social structures of different regions. Many programs receive positive evaluations, or so their advocates claim. Strategies to improve intergroup relations and to ensure policies and practices that require people to identify with one racial or ethnic group inadvertently communicate a lack of respect for persons with bicultural and multicultural identities. Even if they start from a random spatial distribution (see Figure 1), the desire to live near others of the same type causes them to form patches of a particular group that grow in area over time. Respecting group decisions about public spaces, giving them the local autonomy to do so, is part of this respect. Login or create an account to save resources to your bookmark collection. Making sense of when ethnic differences generate conflict -- and knowing how best to attempt to prevent or respond to them when they do -- requires a deeper understanding of how ethnicity works. The areas predicted as vulnerable to violence and actual incidents of violence have a 90 percent geographical correlation. Refresh the. When the model doesnt include the borders around Slovenia and Macedonia we predict violence there, but when the model includes them that violence is gone. Will you continue with the "quiet diplomacy" approach of your predecessor? He was active in the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) during the period of post-Communist transition. Theories of causes It is argued that rebel movements are more likely to organize around ethnicity because ethnic groups are more apt to be aggrieved, better able to mobilize, and more likely to face difficult bargaining challenges compared to other groups. What Causes Ethnic Conflict? Consider the fact that Ghana, a West African country with nearly 30 million people and a mix of . While some people insist that persons of color and certain ethnic backgrounds should abandon their racial and ethnic identities, others insist that individuals should choose a single cultural identity. Respecting group decisions about public spaces, giving them the local autonomy to do so, is part of this respect. Preventing Ethnic Conflict: Macedonia and The Pluralist Paradigm Global Europe Program By Steven L. Burg Society and Culture Race and Ethnicity Europe Eastern Europe North Macedonia The Yugoslav crisis demonstrates the importance of concerted international action to prevent or resolve conflicts before they turn violent. There are two areas where the borders do work as in Switzerland. Thus, strategies to improve race relations need to include both highly focused activities and efforts to ensure that positive intergroup relations are pursued throughout the organization involved. This is the understanding on which we must build if we ever hope to do anything about them. Figure 1:Simulation of type separation with two types of agents [(A) to (E) show the system at 8, 64, 512, 4096, and 32768 attempted moves per particle, respectively]. In many settings, improved intergroup relations are the responsibility of a given officer or instructor, and the most common strategy is the episodic workshop or the introductory courseshort or long. In some cases, the one-time workshop, course, or learning module that focuses on sources of conflict or on racial or ethnic differences can even reinforce negative predispositions. I have also been introducing myself to the OSCE community and international partners. However, the presence or absence of borders in the rest of the country has little effect on the geography of violence. These assumptions may lead to very unequal participation by different racial and ethnic groups, which, in turn, may affect what is learned and the value that participants assign to the experience. In a well mixed society, with small patches, no one group has or expects to have a monopoly over behavior in public spaces. Cultural Survival envisions a future that respects and honors Indigenous Peoples' inherent rights and dynamic cultures, deeply and richly interwoven in lands, languages, spiritual traditions, and artistic expression, rooted in self-determination and self-governance. The focus on differences between racial and ethnic groups, and the failure to deal with differences within these groups, has the consequence of understating common human characteristics and directing attention away from the influence of gender, language, and social class on interpersonal relations. While all eyes are on Ukraine, Serbia, backed by Russia, is provoking fresh chaos in the Balkans. I have quickly learned that it is not a desk job. People cannot be inoculated against prejudice. The natural tendency to self-aggregate can be leveraged for peace if communities are given proper borders and self-governance over their own neighborhoods. Similarly, when racial and ethnic groups put pressure on persons with complex identities to be one or the other, they discriminate against such individuals. We performed case studies in Yugoslavia, India, and Switzerland and found indeed that when patches of ethnic groups are above a certain size, ethnic violence does not occur. Complexity science adopts a multiscale perspective on society. How then do we account for the atrocities that flicker daily in our TV news reports? Science 317, 5844 (2007). United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to People with power and authority send messages more by their deeds than by their words. It also means we should start to describe how groups of people interact with each other based upon the geographic patches that are formed. Patches of a certain size that are surrounded by the other type are highlighted. Ethnic geography refers to the places members of distinct groups of people live in a particular region. Understanding the fate of Yugoslavia has broad relevance. For example, the separation of Pakistan and India left the patchy area of Kashmir that is the site of violence. This means that these borders are not in the right places. (A) Map of the area of the former Yugoslavia showing administrative provinces. I believe that it was the intention of those States that insisted on these limitations that the High Commissioner should not legitimize the activities of those who resort to violence to forward their aims. The following research within this essay focuses on why violent ethnic conflict is unavoidable, by assessing current approaches to avoidance. What is needed are follow-up studies of individual and organizational change, even if such studies involve low-cost self-reports of changes in behavior and policies. Kaapcke's paper shows how difficult it is to determine who are indigenous people in the Former Soviet Union and how such peoples fit into the bewildering kaleidoscope of new nations and new minorities that has emerged since the collapse of the Soviet state. To prevent atrocity crimes, it is critically important to understand the root causes of these crimes. The two broad categories of ethnic conflict. Understanding the fate of Yugoslavia has broad relevance. We can tell which is happening by looking at their geographical distribution and these cases should be treated differently. [7] During Yugoslavias existence, it was variously called the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia, and Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. (A) Map of the area of the former Yugoslavia showing administrative provinces. We respect individual differences in a society because of what each individual can contribute. Contact Us:(617) 547-4100programs@necsi.edu, Global pattern formation and ethnic/cultural violence, Good fences: The importance of setting boundaries for peaceful coexistence. This region occurs near a too easily navigable mountain range between French and German speakers. But the real meaning of positive responses to satisfaction questions is unclear, given that negative responses might be seen as a lack of commitment to the goal of better intergroup relations and that responses may not reflect careful consideration. A. Rutherford, D. Harmon, J. Werfel, S. Bar-Yam, A.S. Gard-Murray, A. Gros, Y. Bar-Yam, Good fences: The importance of setting boundaries for peaceful coexistence. This is the reason we investigated the connection between patch size and ethnic violence. Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect, 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, The International Day of Commemoration and Dignity/ 9 December, S/RES/1366 (2001) (on early warning and the prevention of armed conflict), E/CN.4/RES/2005/62 (2005) Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, A/HRC/RES/7/25 (2008) Prevention of genocide, A/HRC/RES/22/22 (2013) Prevention of genocide, S/RES/2150 (2014) (on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide), A/HRC/RES/28/34 (2015) Prevention of genocide, A/RES/69/323 (2015) International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of This Crime, A/HRC/RES/33/19 (2016) Human Rights and Transitional Justice, A/HRC/RES/37/26 (2018) Prevention of genocide, A/HRC/RES/43/29 (2020) Prevention of genocide. Figure 4 shows the predictions for ethnic violence both with and without borders. When the model doesnt include the borders around Slovenia and Macedonia we predict violence there, but when the model includes them that violence is gone. The issue is explored at length below in the articles dealing with the Former Soviet Union (FSU). This behavior is universal, it does not depend on the specific details of what is happening or where. The effort to identify English as the official language of the United States is a manifestation of the value that many whites place on assimilation, as is the recent concern that multicultural education will lead to a breakdown of our national identity. Making the other seem less different, strange, or exotic can encourage positive interactions and avoid stereotyping. Atrocities crimes, particularly genocide and crimes against humanity, are not spontaneous acts. (PDF) The Role of the State in Managing Ethnic Tensions - ResearchGate In part this is because states affected by conflict are often reluctant to accept international intervention. Sources of prejudice and discrimination are often rooted in particular historical and social contexts, and are shaped by institutional structures and practices. By pushing the region to the brink of collapse and igniting ethnic conflicts, the Kremlin hopes to . A well mixed neighborhood would correspond to the case when people are fine with living together. These strategies are most effective when they organize cooperative activities so as to ensure that people from different backgrounds can contribute equally to the task involved. As long as people move around and prefer to be near others of the same type, any system will display the same universal dynamica general process that applies to diverse social systems and even materials formed of atoms or biological organisms formed of cells. Lesson Summary Frequently Asked Questions What are the types of ethnic conflict? In the critical range for violence, expectations about public spaces are in conflict. Nearly half a million people have fled the rising conflict in Burundi, even as citizens of neighboring countries like Rwanda and the DRC rush in to avoid conflicts in their own home countries. For example, the separation of Pakistan and India left the patchy area of Kashmir that is the site of violence. That being said, the mandate obliges me to focus on the prevention of violent conflict. When islands or peninsulas of one ethnic group fall within the critical range, surrounded by another group or groups, ethnic violence is likely to occur. At the same time, we cannot assume that correcting misconceptions, in and of itself, will be enough to change behavior. PLoS ONE 9(5), e95660 (May 21, 2014). Kubura Shinge na Rugero: Failure to Prevent Ethnic Conflict and Future The best way to resolve or handle cultural conflict is by learning about other cultures. During his forty-year career he has served his country in Bonn, Nairobi, New York, The Hague and, most recently, was Swedish Ambassador to the United States. In other cases they actually choose to be near specific other types (certain types of professionals that need to work together, or men and women, for example). This is the reason we investigated the connection between patch size and ethnic violence. If Yugoslavia had respected local political autonomy of groups, it might have looked a lot more like Switzerland. The articles in this issue show us how and why ethnic conflicts are created and by whom. Is Ethnic Conflict Inevitable? | Foreign Affairs The only "solution," cynics It is successful in having enjoyed ethnic peace for most of its post-colonial existence since Merdeka ("Independence") in 1957. Figure 4: Ethnic groups, political borders, and topographical boundaries, in the former Yugoslavia. But the better we are at creating an environment in which people's rights are protected, in which they feel they have a voice, and in which they do not feel isolated, then the greater the chances that we can ensure peace and prosperity and prevent conflict. 134. This model of governance is not being used in many places of the world where national governments have most of the governing authority. In other places these can be in conflict, yet as Figure 3 shows, little violence is predicted by our analysis, and this analysis is consistent with the reality. Swedish diplomat Rolf Ekeus assumed the position of OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities in July 2001, taking over from Max van der Stoel of the Netherlands who held the post for more than eight years. Switzerland is an example of a state with well placed boundaries [2]. Chapter 3: Preventing and Managing Violent Conflict 47 berg, M., Mller, F., Wallensteen, P., , ZEarly onflict Prevention in Ethnic rises -98: A New Dataset [, onflict Management and Peace Science, Vol. How can we stop ethnic violence? - New England Complex Systems Institute It is my impression, from frequent high-level contacts, that the Governments of Latvia and Estonia recognize this, which is why they have expressed their willingness to continue to work with me. Toward a Common Destiny. We should realize, however, that the idea of universal dynamics that applies to many different types of system does not mean that it happens in every instance. But many evaluation efforts are limited to post-event questionnaires about levels of satisfaction. Preventing conflicts | United Nations Peacekeeping Still, well over 90 . Dealing With Ethnic Conflict | Cultural Survival We identify such regions with a high likelihood of conflict. Said in the other direction, when people are mixed they know each other personally so they wont tend to fight. Cultural Survival E-Newsletter - News and Updates, Information on conferences, meetings and global events pertaining to Indigenous Peoples, 18-2 Ethnic Conflict: The New World Order. As the peoples of Myanmar commemorate Union Day this week, Sai Wansai argues that "civic nationalism" can help address the crisis in "ethnic nationalism" that underpins state failure and the enduring cycles of conflict in the country. Where racial and ethnic diversity exists, diversity provides an opportunity for learning and for comparison that can help avoid oversimplification or stereotyping. The former Yugoslavia is an important case study for our understanding of ethnic violence. Article copyright Cultural Survival, Inc. Our website houses close to five decades of content and publishing. Every group of people has a mixture of individual differences. Science 317, 5844 (2007). NICOLAS DE RIVIRE (France) stressed that preserving diversity helps prevent conflict, and the fight against all forms of discrimination is part of France's indivisible approach. Such boundaries are not needed if people choose to integrate, which is also present in many places. If Yugoslavia had respected local political autonomy of groups, it might have looked a lot more like Switzerland. Second, the expertise needed to adequately integrate experiences that promote positive intergroup relations is scarce. All of these governments attempted to keep the peace between the countrys diverse ethnic groups. In addition, I will examine the long-term preventive diplomacy efforts of the international community to prevent a resurgence of ethnic conflict in the post-conflict phase in this region. They also generally didnt recognize the use of subnational boundaries for this purpose. Yugoslavian borders are quite different from those in Switzerland. Two elements provide the basis to identify ethnic groups: first, the accentuation of cultural traits and, second, the sense that those traits distinguish the group from the members of the society who do not share the differentiating characteristics. Certainly there is a lot of war in the ethnographic record, though it is far from universal.

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