scholarly journals Ethnicity, National Identity and the State: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 757-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elliott Green
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
National Identity ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
The State ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Politics ◽  
The Core ◽  
National Identification ◽  
Sub Saharan

The process by which people transfer their allegiance from ethnic to national identities is highly topical yet somewhat opaque. This article argues that one of the key determinants of national identification is membership in a ‘core’ ethnic group, or Staatsvolk, and whether or not that group is in power. It uses the example of Uganda as well as Afrobarometer data to show that, when the core ethnic group is in power (as measured by the ethnic identity of the president), members of this group identify more with the nation, but when this group is out of power members identify more with their ethnic group. This finding has important implications for the study of nationalism, ethnicity and African politics.

Orthodox Churches and the ‘Othering’ of Islam and Muslims in Today’s Balkans

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-401
Author(s):  
Egdūnas Račius
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Church

Abstract The article focuses on the relation between the socio-legal status of national Orthodox Churches and their role in the legal, institutional and social ‘othering’ of Islam and ethnic groups of Muslims in three Balkans countries, namely, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Serbia. The research reveals that the state-pursued construction of national identity and politics of belonging are expressly permeated by ethno-confessional nationalism, which is at the core of the deep-running tensions between the dominant ethnic group and the marginalized Muslims. There is an alliance between the political and the Church elites to keep ethnic groups of Muslim background either altogether outside the ‘national Us’ or at least at its outer margins.

scholarly journals Building Nations through Shared Experiences: Evidence from African Football

2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (5) ◽  
pp. 1572-1602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilio Depetris-Chauvin ◽  
Ruben Durante ◽  
Filipe Campante
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Civil Conflict ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
National Team ◽  
Shared Experiences ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

We examine whether shared collective experiences help build a national identity, by looking at the impact of national football teams’ victories in sub-Saharan Africa. We find that individuals surveyed in the days after an important victory of their country’s national team are 37 percent less likely to identify primarily with their ethnic group, and 30 percent more likely to trust other ethnicities, than those interviewed just before. Crucially, national team achievements also reduce violence: countries that (barely) qualified to the Africa Cup of Nations experience less civil conflict (9 percent fewer episodes) in the following months than countries that (barely) did not. (JEL D74, J15, L83, O15, O17, Z21)

scholarly journals The Politics of Ethnic Identity in Sub-Saharan Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 001041402097022
Author(s):  
Elliott Green
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Modern China ◽  
Identity Change ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Presidential Transitions ◽  
Group I ◽  
Sub Saharan

Recent literature suggests that African Presidents tend to target co-ethnics with patronage, especially in non-democracies. Coupled with evidence on the role of incentives in driving ethnic identity change, I propose that a change in the ethnic identity of the President should lead to an increase in the proportion of people identifying with the President’s ethnic group. I use survey data from fourteen African countries with Presidential transitions to show that ethnic Presidential change leads to an upwards shift in the percentage of respondents identifying with the new ruling ethnic group in non-democracies, and that this shift increases with the level of autocracy. I also show that countries where citizens perceive more ethnic favoritism see higher levels of ethnic switching. Within-survey evidence from Zambia demonstrates that this shift is immediate, and case study evidence from early modern China suggests that this phenomenon is not limited to Sub-Saharan Africa.

Voting for an ethnic identity: procedural and institutional responses to ethnic conflict in Ethiopia

2007 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 565-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lahra Smith
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Divided Societies ◽  
Institutional Responses ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACTThe literature on democratisation in diverse and divided societies suggests that procedural and institutional innovations can help create the conditions for democracy by adjudicating among groups with competing claims for recognition and inclusion. Some of the most critical assumptions about the relationship between ethnic identity and formal political institutions have been tested in Ethiopia since the early 1990s. Ethnic federalism is a unique and controversial attempt to account for the contested nature of ethnic identities in contemporary Ethiopian politics through a variety of mechanisms, including the use of a referendum to determine ethnic identity. In 2001 the Siltie people voted to separate from the Gurage ethnic group. With this political manoeuvre, the Siltie accessed greater levels of political power and greater resources, but also recognition under the constitutional arrangement as a distinct ethnic group. The Siltie case suggests that formal political institutions have a limited, though important, role in resolving contested citizenship claims. At the same time, it raises vital questions about the challenges of procedural solutions in the context of contested citizenship and democratic transition in sub-Saharan Africa.

Multiculturalism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasar Meer
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Race Relations ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Prominent Feature ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
The Core ◽  
National Question ◽  
Multicultural Citizenship ◽  
Future Status

The purpose of this chapter is to locate the discussion about Muslims in Scotland in relation to questions of national identity and multicultural citizenship. While the former has certainly been a prominent feature of public and policy debate, the latter has largely been overshadowed by constitutional questions raised by devolution and the referenda on independence. This means that, while we have undoubtedly progressed since MacEwen (1980) characterised the treatment of ‘race-relations’ in Scotland as a matter either of ‘ignorance or apathy’, the issue of where ethnic, racial and religious minorities rest in the contemporary landscape remains unsettled. One of the core arguments of this chapter is that these issues are all interrelated, and that the present and future status of Muslims in Scotland is tied up with wider debates about the ‘national question’. Hitherto, however, study of national identity in Scotland has often (though not always) been discussed in relation to the national identities of England, Wales and Britain as a whole.

scholarly journals The Role of Religious Fundamentalism in the Intersection of National and Religious Identities

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susilo Wibisono ◽  
Winnifred Louis ◽  
Jolanda Jetten
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Religious Fundamentalism ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Religious Identification ◽  
National Identification ◽  
The Way

Indonesia has seen recent expansions of fundamentalist movements mobilising members in support a change to the current constitution. Against this background, two studies were conducted. In Study 1, we explored the intersection of religious and national identity among Indonesian Muslims quantitatively, and in Study 2, we qualitatively examined religious and national identification among members of moderate and fundamentalist religious organisations. Specifically, Study 1 (N= 178) assessed whether the association of religious and national identity was moderated by religious fundamentalism. Results showed that strength of religious identification was positively associated with strength of national identification for both those high and low in fundamentalism. Using structured interviews and focus group discussions, Study 2 (N =35) examined the way that self-alignment with religious and national groups develops among activists of religious movements in Indonesia. We found that while more fundamentalist activists attached greater importance to their religious identity than to any other identity (e.g., national and ethnic), more moderate activists represented their religious and national identities as more integrated and compatible. We conclude that for Indonesian Muslims higher in religious fundamentalism, religious and national identities appear to be less integrated and this is consequential for the way in which collective agendas are pursued.

Rag Doll Nations and the Politics of Differentiation on Arbitrary Borders: Karelia and Moldova*

2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 457-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Lawrence Schrad
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
The State ◽  
Ethnic Community ◽  
National Identities ◽  
The Other ◽  
Interesting Aspect ◽  
Territorial Boundaries ◽  
Shed Light

“Tell a man today to go and build a state,” Samuel Finer once stated, “and he will try to establish a definite and defensible boundary and compel those who live inside it to obey him.” While at best an oversimplification, Finer's insight illuminates an interesting aspect of state-society relations. Who is it that builds the state? How and where do they establish territorial boundaries, and how are those who live within that territory compelled to obey? Generally speaking, these are the questions that will be addressed here. Of more immediate concern is the fate of peoples located in regions where arbitrary land boundaries fall. Are they made loyal to the state through coercion or by their own compulsions? More importantly, how are their identities shaped by the efforts of the state to differentiate them from their compatriots on the other side of the borders? How is the shift from ethnic to national identities undertaken? A parallel elaboration of the national histories of the populations of Karelia and Moldova will shed light on these questions. The histories of each group are marked by a myriad of attempts to differentiate the identity of each ethnic community from their compatriots beyond the state's borders. The results of such overt, state-initiated efforts to differentiate borderland populations by encouraging a national identity at the expense of the ethnic, has ranged from the mundane to the tragic—from uneventful assimilation to persecution and even genocide. As an illustration of the range of possibilities and processes, I maintain that the tragedies of Karelia and Moldova are not exceptional, but rather are a consequence of their geographical straddling of arbitrary borders, and the need for the state to promote a distinctive national identity for these populations to differentiate them socially from their compatriots beyond the frontier.

scholarly journals Negotiating Conflict: Regional and National Identities in Contemporary Pakistani Fiction in English

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (I) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Present Article ◽  
The State ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Marginal Groups ◽  
Bapsi Sidhwa ◽  
Critical Attention ◽  
Politics Of Religion ◽  
Language And Ethnicity

Pakistan has frequently been viewed as a stronghold of Islamic radicals, often overlooking the fact that various trends of both dormant and obvious conflicts exist between the politics of religion and region. Whereas the former is mainly controlled by the state, the latter is generally influenced by language and ethnicity. The state’s monolithic notion of national identity, from the country’s birth in 1947 to the present, has overshadowed the regional identities mainly the Pashtuns, Baluchis, and Sindhis, and disregarded the minority credos such as Shias, Parsis, Ahmadis, Hindus, and Christians. The present article aims to explore how contemporary Pakistani fiction in English spotlights images of a fragmented national self, underlining plights of the aforementioned marginal groups and exhibiting strong resistance to hidebound national identity. Reviewing contemporary Pakistani fiction in English with a particular focus on the fiction of Bapsi Sidhwa, Sara Suleri, Kamila Shamsie, Nadeem Aslam, Bina Shah, and Jamil Ahmad, this paper aims to bring critical attention of the scholars to the socio-cultural and political valuation of the regional identities.

Languages and National Identity in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Multilevel Approach

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katalin Buzási
Keyword(s):  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Multilevel Models ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Country Level ◽  
National Identification ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Language Knowledge ◽  
French Colonies ◽  
Sub Saharan

This chapter contributes to the recent strand of the empirical political and economic literature that attempts to reveal the determinants of national identification in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although previous survey-based studies provide evidence that the socio-economic characteristics of individuals, the properties of ethnic groups they belong to, and certain country-level variables influence the probability of having positive attitudes toward the ethnic group or the nation, the role of languages has not been studied in this context yet. Inspired by findings of psycholinguistics and related disciplines, we utilize the fourth round of the Afrobarometer Project (surveyed in 2008 and 2009) to conduct analysis on the possible positive relationship between language knowledge and identification in national versus ethnic terms. We introduce two language-related explanatory variables. First, the Index of Communication Potential (ICP) reflects the probability that an individual can communicate with another randomly selected person within the society relying on commonly spoken languages. Second, we take into account the number of spoken languages in one’s repertoire. The multilevel models show that although speaking more than two languages increases the chance of identifying in national compared to ethnic terms, the ICP is not significant in this sense on the whole sample. But, when we consider the nationality of the former colonizers, the ICP exhibits positive relationship with national identification on the sub-sample of the former French colonies.

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