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    9 C Bowen Ethnic Conflict Myth

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    Globalization and the Challenges of a New Century A READER Edited by Patrick O’Meara, Howard D. Mehlinger, and Matthew Krain Roxana Ma Newman, Managing Editor INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS BLOOMINGTON AND INDIANAPOLIS Notice: his materiat way b» protected by copyright iaw. (Title 17, US. Code) 78 EISUKE SAKAKIBARA However, civilizations such as the West and Islam must practice tolerance. In particular, the West must abandon sectarian progressivism in favor of respect for the environment and tolerance for other civilizations. Today’s ongoing globaliza- tion is quite different from past versions in that, as a result of revolutionary tech- nological progress in information and communications, it involves simultaneous ‘or real-time transfers of information and technology. This contributes to the ac- celeration of changes due to globalization and may cause substantial difficulties for the adaptation of cultures to technology. Compared to past periods of global- ization with cultural diversities, environmental constraints are more absolutely binding, ‘These constraints will make mutual accommodations between civilizations more difficult, particularly between the affluent and less affluent. To the extent that these new conditions exist, this is a new experiment in again making globalization compatible with cultural diversity, During the Cold War, two versions of progres- sivism suppressed the most important process of history, interaction and accom- ‘modation between diverse civilizations. After some 50 years, the normal process of history has started to move again, What we are witnessing is not the end of history but a fresh start The Myth of Global Ethnic Conflict John R. Bowen Much recent discussion of international affairs has been based on the misteading assumption that the world is fraught with primordial ethnic conflict. According to this notion, ethnic groups lie in wait for one another, nourishing age-old hatreds and restrained only by powerful states. Remove the lid, and the eauldron boils over. Analysts who advance this idea differ in their predictions for the future: some see the fragmentation of the world into small tribal groups; others, a face off among several vast civilizational coalitions, They all share, however, the idea thatthe world’s current conllicts are fueled by age-old ethnic loyalties and cultural differences! This notion misrepresents the genesis of conflict and ignores the ability of diverse people to coexist. The very phrase “ethnic conflict” misguides us. It has become a shorthand way to speak about any and all violent confrontations be- ‘ween groups of people living in the same country. Some of these conflicts involve ethnic or cultural identity, but most are about getting more power, land, or other resources. They do not result from ethnic diversity; thinking that they do sends us off in pursuit of the wrong policies, tolerating rulers who incite riots and suppress ethnic differences, In speaking about local group conflicts we tend to make three assumptions: first, that ethnic identities are ancient and unchanging; second, that these identities Bowen, John, The Myth of Global Ethnic Conict Journal of emooracy, Vol.7,No. (1996) pp. 3-14, © 1996 The Johns Hopkins University Press and National Endowment for Democracy Reprinted by permission, 80 JOHN R. BOWEN motivate people to persecute and kill; and third, that ethnic diversity itself in- evitably leads to violence. Al three are mistaken. Contrary to the first assumption, ‘Although people have had identiti \—deriving from religion, ethnicity is a product of modem politics. birthplace, lan- {puage, and so on—foras long es humans have had culture, they have begun 0 S6© aeaselves as members of vast ethnic groups, opposed to other such groups, only during the modem period of colonization and state-building. “The view that ethnicity is ancient and unchanging emerges these days in the potent images ofthe cauldeon and the tribe, Out of the violence in Eastern Europe Pame images of the region as a bubbling cauldron of ethnonationalist sentiments that were sure to boil over unless suppressed by strong states. The cauldron image Contrasts with the American “melting pot,” suggesting that Western ethnicities say melt, but Eastern ones must be suppressed by the region's unlikable, but per hhaps necessary, Titos and Stalins, ‘Nowhere does this notion seem more apt than in the former Yugoslavia. Sure~ ly the Serbs, Croats, and Bosnians are distinct ethnic groups destined 10 clash throughout history, are they not? Yet itis often forgotten how small the differences fare among the currently warring factions in the Balkans. Serbs, Croats, and Bos- nine all speak the same language (Italy has greater linguistic diversity) and have lived side by side, most often in peace, for centuries. Although itis comnvon 0 say that they are separated by religion —Croats being Roman Catholic, Serbs Or- thadox Christian, and Bosnians Muslim—in fact each population includes size ble numbers of the other two religions. The three religions have indeed become Symbols of group differences, but religious differences have not by themselves caused intergroup conflict. Rising rates of intermarriage (as high as 30 percent in Bosnia) would have led to the gradual blurring of contrasts across these Tines. "As knowledgeable long-term observers such as Misha out, the roots of the current Balkan violence lie not in primordi ligious differences but rather in ist ideas, “Ethnicity” becomes “ jenny have pointed ial ethnic and re- nodern attempts to rally people around national ‘ationalism’” when it includes aspirations to gain fs monopoly of land, resources, and power. But nationalism, too, isa learned and frequently manipulated set of ideas, and not a primordial sentiment, Inthe nine tconth century, Serb and Croat intellectuals joined other Europeans in champion- ing the rights of peoples to rule themselves in “nation-states” states fo be com= posed of one nationality. For ther part, Serbs drew on memories of short-lived ‘Serb national states to claim their right to expand outward (0 encompass other peoples, just s other countries in Europe (most notably France) had done ealiet ‘Than Balkan peoples spoke the same language made these expansionist claims all the more plausible to many Serbs "At the same time, Croats were developing their own nationalist ideology, with twist eather than claiming the right to overrun non-Croats, it promised 10 ex: ‘dude them. Nationalism among the Croats naturally was direeted against their Strong Serb neighbors. When Serbs dominated the state of Yugoslavia that was created after the First World War, Croat resentment of Serbs grew. The most mnilitant of Croat nationalists formed an underground organization called Ustashe ‘THE MYTH OF GLOBAL ETHNIC CONFLICT @1 ‘out the forced conversions, expulsions, and massacres of Serbs luring he worked pon the stil] fresh memories of these tragedies. we fanned nationalist flames by giving Serbs and Croats privil ‘ster The Legacy of Colonialism Butt hot Ai? Serely te ind is cot do we nt 0 understandings of African violence have be ‘louded ns, not of boiling ons, bt of ancient ial warfare Teel a National Public Redo epree, itrewingan Ain UN labo van, Throat he Sseusion ete pee holt Gc te uncial were inthe sgier Th ofiieve pel dene peal eninge ore tha mass conflict began when Begin colonial ls gave Tus 40. nopely ofan Power But, as happens so often, the image of ancient tribali fa (00 deeply ingrained in the reporter's mind for him to. sme. ws for him tear he UN oii mes ‘What the Aion ical had isa product of modern conflicts over power and fevources and tan sen inpeciet opi modem, see he mode ea some May sioner tes a oa Ne er Zand se bes were a te main sors fee ity. A woman ving in con Ae de

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