Ethnic Diversity and the Nation-State in the 21st Century

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-49
Author(s):  
Francis Kok Wah Loh
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Political Power ◽  
State Building ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Minority Communities ◽  
Building Process ◽  
The Status

Abstract The cause of conflict in multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies is not diversity in and of itself. Instead, it is one’s attitude towards diversity. Do we share political power and economic development with the regions and minority communities? Do we respect and recognise the cultural identities of minorities? This requires that the nation-state building process be imagined in more inclusive civic territorial lines rather than exclusive ethnic-genealogical lines. With the above as a backdrop, the article explores the status of the Christian minority in Malay-Islamic majority Malaysia and the plight of the Rohingyas in Bamar-Buddhist majority Myanmar.

Legalistic Confucianism and Economic Development in East Asia

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 461-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaibong Hahm ◽  
Wooyeal Paik
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
South Korea ◽  
East Asia ◽  
State Building ◽  
Nation State ◽  
The People ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Great Transformation ◽  
Time To Learn

One of the fascinating theoretical questions posed by the spread of industrialization and today's nation-state-building process is how these originally Western and quintessentially modern institutions come to take root in other civilizations. The question becomes even more intriguing when the process of adaptation is unusually swift and successful as in East Asia. In Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore, the states and peoples had scant time to learn and absorb modern practices, norms, and concepts before undertaking, or being subjected to, countless reforms and revolutions in the name of “modernization.” How, or in what terms, did the people in this “great transformation” understand and interpret what they were doing? If the as-yet imperfectly understood concepts and values could not be appealed to, what resources—intellectual and ethico-moral—were at their disposal to use to motivate themselves and persuade others to undertake or endure such massive changes?

scholarly journals Economics, Politics, and Ethnicity in Balochistan's Transport Industry

1995 ◽  
Vol 34 (4II) ◽  
pp. 619-626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Titus
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Ethnic Conflict ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
The State ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Distribution Of Wealth ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Transport Industry ◽  
The Creation

Because of its potential to disrupt economic development, it is necessary to understand the dynamics of ethnic conflict in the contemporary world. A prevalent trend in the study of ethnicity is to focus on the creation and/or maintenance of ethnic identities and mobilisation on the basis of those identities as groups compete for resources, opportunities, or political power in the context of the nation-state [Barth (1969); Brass (1985); Comaroff (1987); Mumtaz (1990)]. In this approach, an ethnic group's distinguishing markers-language, custom, dress, etc.-are treated less as manifestations of tradition which define or create the group and more as arenas of negotiation and contestation in which people strive to realise their practical and symbolic interests. This happens as individuals or families, pursuing their livelihoods with the skills and resources available to them, find (or create) opportunities or obstacles which appear to be based on' ethnic criteria. The state can intensify this process as it uses positive or negative discrimination in order to achieve some desired distribution of wealth and opportunity. In turn, political leadership becomes a key in realising the experience of shared ethnic interests. Leadership develops as a kind of dual legitimation process, i.e., as individuals or organisations seek to be accepted as spokesmen both by members of the group itself and by outsiders.

Contacts, Collisions and Relationships

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrés Baeza Ruz
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
State Building ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Spanish American ◽  
Cultural Encounters ◽  
Building Process ◽  
The World ◽  
State Actors ◽  
Independence Era

This is a study on the relations between Britain and Chile during the Spanish American independence era (1806–1831). These relations were characterised by a dynamic, unpredictable and changing nature, being imperialism only one and not the exclusive way to define them. The book explores how Britons and Chileans perceived each other from the perspective of cultural history, considering the consequences of these ‘cultural encounters’ for the subsequent nation–state building process in Chile. From 1806 to 1831 both British and Chilean ‘state’ and ‘non–state’ actors interacted across several different ‘contact zones’, and thereby configured this relationship in multiple ways. Although the extensive presence of ‘non–state’ actors (missionaries, seamen, educators and merchants) was a manifestation of the ‘expansion’ of British interests to Chile, they were not necessarily an expression of any British imperial policy. There were multiple attitudes, perceptions, representations and discourses by Chileans on the role played by Britain in the world, which changed depending on the circumstances. Likewise, for Britons, Chile was represented in multiple ways, being the image of Chile as a pathway to other markets and destinations the most remarkable. All these had repercussions in the early nation–building process in Chile.

scholarly journals Ukraine: the Radical Solution of the Nation-Building’s Problem

2015 ◽  
pp. 39-49
Author(s):  
M V Kosmachev
Keyword(s):  
Nation Building ◽  
State Building ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Ethnic Community ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Ethnic Cleansing ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
The Status ◽  
Radical Solution

The article is devoted to the problem of nation building in Ukraine. After 1991 Ukrainian political elite is forced to preserve the status quo and maneuver between the practice of constructing supra-ethnic community in the form of the nation-state or in the form of the empire. The coup d’état proceeded in Ukraine in February 2014 and further confrontation demonstrate a commitment of elite groups to the line of the nation-state building in its radical form. The execution of the chosen line is only possible by force of ethno-nationalism and ethnic cleansing.

scholarly journals Summer Camps and Civil War

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-95
Author(s):  
Hannah Klapprodt
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Building ◽  
State Violence ◽  
The State ◽  
Summer Camps ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Security Threat ◽  
Youth Movement ◽  
Building Process

This project investigates the rise of the Yemeni insurgent group, AnsarAllah (commonly known as the Huthis), from its conception in the summer camps of the Zaidi Believing Youth movement to its successful rebellion against the internationally-backed Yemeni government in September 2014. The Huthi movement gained a large following by protesting government corruption, injustice, and Saudi and American activity in Yemen. A constructivist analysis of these grievances reveals flaws in the Yemeni nation-state building process as nationalist narratives were created in opposition to Zaidism—the second most practiced branch of Islam in Yemen and a defining element of Huthi identity. Under the guise of “transitional democracy,” the Yemeni state developed as a pluralist authoritarian regime that marginalized Zaidi communities. Anti-Zaidi discourse created exclusionary categories of Yemeni identity, which were intensified by a series of hostile interactions between the state and Huthi leaders. In 2004, the state rationalized violence against the Huthis by framing them as a “national security threat” and an Iranian proxy. These discourses mobilized additional domestic and international actors against the Huthis and catalyzed a series of complex conflicts that eventually culminated in the current civil war. Overall, the Huthis’ journey from summer camps to militancy was driven by marginalization in the new Yemeni nation-state, perceived threats from Saudi Arabia and the United States, and the explosion of state violence against their dissidence.

The Clash of Nationalisms

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamid Ahmadi
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
State Building ◽  
Recent Experience ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Linguistic Minority ◽  
Ethnic Nationalism ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Systematic Response

While it is true that Iran is composed of various religious-linguistic minority groups, making ethnicity an issue worth studying, Iran has specific features that differentiate it from other societies that have more recent experience in political heritage and the nation-state-building process. Bearing the characteristics of ancient nations, as some theorists of ethnicity and nationalism have elaborated, Iran represents a specific historical case in which the saliency of nationalism and an Iranian national identity is more remarkable than that of ethnicity and ethnic nationalism. The present study of Iranian Azeris and Iran-Azerbaijan Republic relations can shed more light on this fact. This chapter argues that Iranian Azeris have produced the most enduring and systematic response to the Azerbaijan Republic’s pan-Turkist irredentist and ethnic nationalist claims.

Imagining Nations and Making States

2020 ◽  
pp. 14-31
Author(s):  
Christine Leuenberger ◽  
Izhak Schnell
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
State Building ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Nation State ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Building Process ◽  
New Geography

It is central for international relations to support state- and nation-building; “nation-building” entails forging common national identities, and “state-building” consists of establishing infrastructures to enhance governance. This chapter examines some of the ways that nation-states have been made—through narratives, ideas, and practices as well as through technologies and infrastructures—and how this has been reproduced in Israel/Palestine. Various disciplines were recruited to the service of nation-state building. Cartography helped stake out a territory, history and archaeology were used to make claims on it, and geographers were called on to formulate a new geography of the new homeland. At the same time, the Zionist vision and a Jewish metaculture as well as the quasi-state institutions of the Yishuv contributed to the establishment of the Israeli state. Throughout the 20th century, the high-modernist state used science and technology to take on its people as a state project. Israel exemplifies how the use of science and technology contributed to the belief that a society, its people, and its territories could be known, managed, and improved. Science and technology charted grand new futures for societies, furthering scientific and technical frontiers, expanding the power of states, and leaving behind all those people and lands that were not considered part of the state-building process.

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