Questions for Exam I

 

 

Preliminary Vocabulary:

1. ethnicity - ethnic quality or affiliation; relating to races; large groups classified according to common traits or customs

2. nationalism - a sense of national consciousness placing emphasis on promoting national culture and interests as opposed to other groups

3. ethnonationalism - nationalism based on divisions of mankind by race or culture

4. prejudice - irrational hostility toward members of a particular race, religion or group

5. discrimination - to act on the basis of prejudice

6. integration - two groups unify into one

7. assimilation - incorporation, conversion; absorb into the cultural tradition of a population; to make similar

8. acculturation - cultural modification of a group through prolonged continuous interaction with a different culture

9. racism - the belief that some races are inherently better than others; racial prejudice or discrimination

10. partition - to divide a country into two or more territorial units having separate political states

11. separatism - a belief in or movement toward independence or autonomy for a part of a political unit

12. autonomy - the right of self-government

13. independence - self-governing

14. secede - to withdraw formerly from membership in a state

15. homeland - one's native land

16. indigenous - living in one's native land

 

 

   Discussion Questions:

 

Discussion Questions for Harff and Gurr  pp. 1-34

 

Chapter 1:

1.      What is an ethnic group?  Why are they prone to conflict?

 

2.      What are some examples of ways in which politically active ethnic groups have been “disadvantaged”?

 

3.      What are some of the strategies of political action used by ethnonational movements?

 

4.      Why might democracies be better able to accommodate ethnic demands than autocracies?

 

5.      What are some examples of the trend toward a re-emergence of “xenophobia” in the world today?

 

6.      How has the end of the Cold War affected the pattern of ethnonational conflict?

 

7.      What is the difference between a demand for autonomy and a demand for independence?   Which is likely to be more successful?

 

Chapter 2:

 

1.      What are the differences between ethnonationalists, indigenous peoples, ethnoclasses and communal contenders? 

a.      What are the differences in the demands that they make? 

b.      How are they different organizationally?

c.       Do they tend to be found more frequently in any particular part of the world?

 

2.      How have imperial conquest, colonialism, slavery, frontier settlement and labor migration each affected ethnopolitical conflict?

 

3.      Why do so many ethnic-based political conflicts have such significant international repercussions?

 

4.      What are the different possible relationships between religious differences and ethnic identities?  What are implications of each?

 

 

Harff and Gurr, pp. 35-93

 

1.      Harff and Gurr identify two underlying factors that are present in all instances of ethnic political conflict.  How do these underlying factors emerge?  (What is the source of these factors?)

2.      What were the circumstances that led to the establishment in 1992 of a Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq?  (What were some of the major turning points in a timeline that led to this outcome?)  How does this government function?  How successful has it been?

3.      What are the identifying characteristics of the Kurdish nation?

4.      In which country listed in Table 3.1 do Kurds constitute the largest proportion of the country’s population?

5.      Which country listed in Table 3.1 is home to the largest proportion of Kurdistan’s population?

6.      Which city in Turkey contains more Kurds than any city in Kurdistan?

7.      Why is the Treaty of Sevres important for understanding the history of Kurdish nationalism?

8.      What were the major differences between the Treaty of Sevres and the Treaty of Lausanne?

9.      What are some examples of discrimination and repression that Kurds have suffered within Turkey?

10.  What event caused the sudden decline in the activities of the militant guerrilla activities of the Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK)?

11.  Which country (from outside the region) supported the establishment of Kurdish Republic of Mahabad in 1946?

12.  How have Kurdish interests been acknowledged by the current government of Iran?  What issues remain unresolved?

13.  Why might the regime in Iran (“motivated by Islamic principles”) be less threatened by demands for Kurdish minority rights than “a regime motivated by the Turkish brand of exclusive nationalism”? (p. 50)

 

14.  What are some of the major turning points in a timeline that led to establishment of the autonomous region the Miskitos call Yapti Tasba in Nicaragua?  (Note a particular event which occurred in 1687.)

15.  What is the geographical significance of the Coco River?

16.  What impact did missionaries have on the Miskito situation?

17.  What was the significance of the ALPROMISU?  Which relationship did they eventually have with the “contra” war against the Sandinistas?

18.  What issues remain to be resolved between the Miskito Communal Nation and the Nicaraguan government?

 

19.  What relationship has the Communist Party had to ethnic relations in Malaysia?

20.  What is the ethnic/religious and socio-economic configuration of Malaysia’s population?

21.  What are some of the major turning points in a timeline of the history of Malay-Chinese relations?

22.  How might “recent events” upset the delicate situation in Malaysia?

 

23.  What are the origins and the current status of Turks in Germany?

24.  What are some of the major turning points in a timeline of the history of German government policy toward the Turks?

25.  Why haven’t the Turks joined in collective action against German authorities?

 

 

Harff and Gurr, pp. 95-138

 

Chapter 5:

1.      Provide an example of a hypothesis based on modernization theory that would help to explain ethnic mobilization.  How might the concepts within this hypothesis be operationalized?

2.      What are the differences between the primordialist, instrumental and constructivist interpretations of how and why ethnic identities emerge?

3.      What are the three general conditions from which secessionist movements result?

4.      What are the seven factors that make genocides and politicides more likely? (p. 98)

5.      Provide an example of a hypothesis based on the primordialist interpretation.  How might the concepts within this hypothesis be operationalized?

6.      Provide an example of a hypothesis based on the instrumentalist interpretation.  How might the concepts within this hypothesis be operationalized?

7.      What are some examples of discrimination?  How can we measure it?

8.      What factors are hypothesized to be related to group identity?  How might these be measured?  How can “strength of group identity” be measured?

9.      How do we know a “cohesive” group when we see one?  (What are the defining characteristics of a cohesive group?)  What factors contribute to group cohesion?

10.  What are some different variables (characteristics) that define or structure the political environment within which a group operates?

11.  What are some of the different types and different sources of external support for an ethno-political group?

12.  Overall, what are the seven key factors considered most important as predictors of ethnic mobilization and conflict?

 

Chapter 6:

1.      What are the most serious political grievances of the Kurds and the Miskitos?

2.      What are the differential foundations of group identity of the Kurds and the Miskitos? 

3.      What are some examples of weakness in the group cohesion of the Kurds and the Miskitos? 

4.      Governments may respond to the beginnings of ethno-political activism in a variety of ways.  What are some of the consequences of different types of government response?  What might be the optimum response from the perspective of a government?

5.      Why is it so difficult to bring ethnic conflicts to a peaceful solution once they have escalated into rebellion?

6.      What do the authors identify as the main “negative” source of group identity for immigrant groups?

7.      How is the period of Chinese insurgency in Malaysia explained?

8.      Why has political mobilization on the part of the Turks in Germany been so limited?

9.      What “patterns of accommodation” have been attempted in multiethnic societies in the last half of the 20th Century? (pp. 134-135)

 

 

 Harff and Gurr, pp. 139-164

 

1.      Although modern “states” continue to define the international system, we see increasing evidence of “fluidity of international borders.”  What are some examples of this fluidity?

2.      Why has the international community done so little to prevent the intense and protracted violence in Chechnya?

3.      Why does a state with “high status” have more latitude and leeway in dealing with challenging ethno-national groups than do “low status” regimes?

4.      How can the regime status of Iraq under Saddam Hussein be characterized?

5.      How has the status of both the Iraqi government and the Iraqi Kurds shifted after the U.S.-British invasion of March 2003?

6.      What might a post-Saddam Iraqi government look like?

7.      What is the extent of external support for the Kurds?  What events have caused this support to shift over time?

8.      How did both the Monroe Doctrine and the Truman Doctrine play into the ethnic conflict in Nicaragua?

9.      How did U.S. policy toward Nicaragua change under the Reagan administration (starting in 1981)?

10.  What characteristics of the international system help account for the evolution of the “Emergency” period in Malaysia?

11.  How can the international status and external support for Chinese Communists in Malaysia be understood (explained)?  How has the extent of this support varied over time?

12.  How does the imbalance between the regime status of Germany and the status of the Turkish minority help to explain the policies adopted by both parties?

13.  How is the Turkish minority issue in Germany representative of a “common European problem?”

 

 

Middle East:  The Kurds Struggle for "Kurdistan"

Kurds: Largely Sunni Muslim

Ethnically close to the Iranians, the Kurds were traditionally nomadic herders.

Estimated to be more than 20 million Kurds, about half of them in Turkey, where, making up more than 20% of the population. The Kurds in Iran constitute some 10% of its people. The Iraqi Kurds comprise about 23% of Iraq’s population.

 

Timeline:

Kurds were conquered by the Arabs in the 7th century.

1914-1918       Kurds struggle to free themselves of Ottoman and Turkish rule.

(Kurds were encouraged by the Turkish defeat in World War I and by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s plea for self-determination for non-Turkish nationalities in the empire)

1919                British create Iraq; Sheikh Mahmud begins decade of unsuccessful revolts in Iraq.

1920                Stillborn Treaty of Sevres provides for possible Kurdish independence.

1923    Definitive Treaty of Lausanne fails to mention Kurds.

1925                Turks crush Sheikh Said's rebellion. "Mountain Turks" (Kurds) are repressed.

1926    Iranian Kurdish leader Ismail Agha Simko is assassinated.

1930    Turks crush Kurdish rebellion in Ararat area.

1931                Mulla Mustafa Barzani (1903-1979) begins to emerge in Iraq as the preeminent Kurdish leader of the twentieth century.

1936-1938       Turks crush Kurdish rebellion in Dersim (Tunceli).

1946    Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) (Iraq) is formed.

1946-1947       Mahabad Republic of Kurdistan is organized in Iran.

1947    Qazi Muhammad is hanged by Iranians on March 31.

1968                pan-Arab Ba’ath Party seizes power in Iraq (Saddam Hussein formerly assumes presidency in 1979)

1970                March Manifesto in Iraq theoretically promises Kurdish autonomy.

(Kurds refused to accept the terms of the agreement, however, contending that the president of Iraq would retain real authority and demanding that Kirkuk, an important oil center, be included in the autonomous Kurdish region.)

1974                Iraqi government sought to impose its plan for limited autonomy in Kurdistan. It was rejected by the Kurds, and heavy fighting erupted.

1975                Mulla Mustafa Barzani is defeated. His son, Massoud Barzani, eventually emerges as his successor.  Jalal Talabani (1933-    ) creates (Iraqi) Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

1978                Abdullah (Apo) Ocalan creates Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey.

1979                After the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran (1979), the government there launched a murderous campaign against its Kurdish inhabitants as well as a program to assassinate Kurdish leaders.

1982                Current Turkish constitution contains several provisions repressing Kurds.

1984    PKK insurgency in Turkey begins.

1980-1988                   Iraqi attacks on the Kurds continued throughout the Iran-Iraq War

1987-1988                   Saddam Hussein conducts genocidal campaigns against  Iraqi Kurds (poison gas).

1989                Iranian leader of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDIP), Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou, is assassinated.

1991                Gulf War is fought. Iraqi Kurdish uprising occurs, and mass refugee flight takes place. United States creates safe haven and no-fly zone resulting in de facto Kurdish state in northern Iraq. UN Security Council Resolution condemns Iraqi repression of Kurds. An antiterrorism law (in Turkey) makes the peaceful advocacy of Kurdish rights a crime.

1992                Turkish government again mounted an attack on its Kurdish minority, killing more than 20,000 and creating about two million refugees.

1994                Peoples Democracy Party (HADEP) is created as the legal Kurdish party in Turkey (now the principal civilian voice of Kurdish nationalism in Turkey).

1994-1998       KDP-PUK civil war is conducted in Iraqi Kurdistan.

1995    In PKK attacks the KDP in northern Iraq.

1995                            Turkey waged a military campaign against PKK base camps in northern Iraq.

1998    Syria expels Ocalan.

1999                Turks capture Ocalan and Ocalan is sentenced to death. In December, the European Union accepts Turkey as a candidate member. Ocalan's death sentence put on hold.

2000                PKK announces the end of its insurrection.

2000                Reform-minded Ahmet Necdet Sezar is elected president in Turkey.

2001                Mohammed Khatami elected president of Iran (Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-KHAMENEI since 4 June 1989)

2002                Justice and Development Party (AKP) wins national elections in Turkey

2003                US-led coalition invasion of Iraq

 

 

 

Malaysia: The Malay-Chinese Conflict

Malaysia’s Population:

            Approximately:          58%     Malay, 27% Chinese, 8% Indian

 

TIMELINE   

1400    Chinese traders begin arriving on the Malay Peninsula.   

1860                Significant numbers of Chinese begin to migrate to the British colonies on the Malay Peninsula. Migration ends in approximately 1930.

1911    The Qing Dynasty in China is overthrown.

1942-1945       Japanese occupy British Malaya.

1942-1948                   Insurgency is waged by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP).

1945-1946       Military rule is established by the British.  

1948                Emergency rule is declared by the British to eliminate Communist insurgents.        

1957                The Independence Constitution is drafted for the Federation of Malaya.          

1963                The Federation of Malaysia is created with the merger of the Federation of Malaya states Singapore, Sarawak, and North Borneo (Sabah).         

1965    Singapore is separated from the Federation of Malaysia.  

1969                Riots on May 13 against ethnic Chinese lead to two years of emergency rule in Malaysia.

1971    New Economic Policy is adopted.

1987                In October, demonstrations are held and the Internal Security Act is passed to contain the opposition forces challenging the government.

1998                An economic crisis in Southeast Asia produces demonstrations           against the regime in Malaysia; Malaysian Chinese seem to avoid protests.

1999                General elections are held, and the leading coalition retains power with support from the ethnic Chinese.

2001                In June, the Malaysian Chinese Association president is criticized for the party's purchase of the two largest Chinese language newspapers, and Chinese disappointment with the party intensifies.

Post-September 11, the Malaysian government cracks down on Al Qaeda-linked Islamic groups.  The move increases Chinese support for the ruling Malay party and is supported by moderate Malays.

2002                On June 25, Prime Minister Mahatir Mohamad announces that he will retire in October 2003 and be replaced by his deputy prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

2004                National parliamentary elections won by the ruling-coalition National Front (Barisan Nasional) or BN (which includes among other parties the Malaysian Chinese Association and the Malaysian Indian Congress.)

 

 

 

 

Taras and Ganguly, pp. 1-41

 

1.      Along with objective cultural attributes, primordialists stress the subjective or psychological aspects of a group-related feeling of identity distinctiveness.  In psychological terms, according to Rex, what are the three things important for group creation?

2.      In exemplifying the primordialist approach, what are the six foundations of ethnic identity described by Anthony Smith?

3.      What is the difference between “homeland societies” and “ethnic diaspora”?

4.      What is the difference between “ethnic nationalism” and “civic nationalism”?

5.      What are the four main factors to which ethnic pluralism in today’s world can be attributed?

6.      Provide an example of a “negative theory of integration.”  How does the theory explain the rise of ethno-national sentiments in developing states?

7.      What are the essential components of the consociational approach of Arend Lijphart for achieving democracy in plural societies?

8.      For what reasons do Taras and Ganguly conclude that consociational solutions will not preserve stability in multi-ethnic states and may even facilitate the rise of ethno-nationalist feelings?

9.      How does the internal colonialism approach combine economic explanations with cultural explanations of ethnic mobilization?

10.  What is the fundamental distinction between nationalism and ethnic politics?

11.  According to Alesina and Spolaore, how have recent democratizing trends and international economic integration provided incentives for regions in existing states to seek secession?

12.  According to Kaufman, ethnic war can best be explained and understood by looking at causal factors from three levels of analysis.  What are these three levels?

13.  Despite being a prominent feature of the global political landscape, ethnic conflict was not given much attention by international relations specialists until the post-Cold War explosion of ethnic violence.  How can we account for this lack of attention?

Taras and Ganguly, pp. 42-69:

 1. What is included with the "international normative regime"?

2. What are two fundamental principles (norms) that are related to secessionist claims within the international system (p. 43)?

3. How do generally accepted principles of sovereignty create trouble for secessionists?

4. According the Permanent Court of International Justice under the League of Nations systems, what two elements are required for a claim to territorial sovereignty?

5. What are some of the problems associated with gaining "recognition" by an ethnonationalist group?

6. Under what conditions is departure from the fundamental "principle of nonintervention" justified?

7. Given that the principle of self-determination confers the right to people to decide their own fate, what two essential elements follow (p. 49)? What three obstacles, however, must be overcome in order to fully realize this principle (p. 50)?

8. What characteristics of a secessionist effort make the moral case in support of secession stronger (p. 54)?

9. What traditional institutional arrangements for mitigating ethnic conflict (short of secession) are identified by Myron Weiner (p. 57)?

10. What are the 12 pro-secession arguments that are developed by Taras and Ganguly (following from Buchanan) (p. 59-63)?

11. According to Heraclides, what are the pre-requisites for accepting secession as a solution to intercommunal conflict (p. 63-64)?

  

The State of Israel—notes on ethnicity

 

Population:  6,199,008 (July 2002 est.)
Notes on Population Settlement:  There are 242 Israeli settlements and civilian land use sites in the West Bank (pop. = 187,000), 42 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights (pop. = about 20,000), 25 in the Gaza Strip (pop. = over 5,000), and 29 in East Jerusalem (pop. = 177,000).  July, 2004 est.

 

Ethnic Groups:  Jewish 80.1% (Europe/America-born 32.1%, Israel-born 20.8%, Africa-born 14.6%, Asia-born 12.6%), non-Jewish 19.9% (mostly Arab) (1996 est.)

 

Religions:  Jewish 80.1%, Muslim 14.6% (mostly Sunni Muslim), Christian 2.1%, other 3.2% (1996 est.)

 

Languages:  Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language

 

Government type:  parliamentary democracy (called the Knesset—unicameral)

  • Head of Government: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (took office March 7, 2001)
  • Sharon heads the Likud (rightist) Party
  • Likud Party defeated the Labour (leftist) Party in January, 2003 elections.  Labour is led by Shimon Peres.

 

Military Capability:

Israel spends 8.7% of GDP on defense spending (U.S. spends 3.9%, France 2.6%, UK 2.4%, China 3.5 - 5.0%)

 

Arab & Palestinian/Israeli Conflict

  • Although identical in their origin and closely- related in their development, there are distinctions to be made between the Arab/Israeli and Palestinian/Israeli conflicts.

 

ORIGINS OF ETHNIC CONFLICT:

70 A.D.                       Romans destroy Second Temple at Jerusalem.  Jews are dispersed from Middle East across the known world.

 

1800’s                         “Zionism” is born.

 

1917                            “His Majesty’s government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. . .”

                                                                                    --Balfour Declaration

                                                                                    (United Kingdom)

 

1918-1920                   End of WWI.  Fall of Ottoman Empire.  Britain given “mandate” over Palestine.

 

**Question:  Who is a Palestinian?

 

1920’s-                        Jewish migration into Palestine begins in earnest. 

1930’s                         Arabs begin to register opposition to the immigration.  In response, Britain limits the amount of Jewish immigration.

 

1930’s                         Run-up to WWII.  Jews increasingly try to leave Nazi-influenced Europe for Israel. Britain doesn’t want to upset its Arab interests in the region             (and drive them to the Nazis).

 

1947                            Post-WWII/Post-Holocaust.  Pressure builds on Britain to admit Jewish refugees.  Britain announces it will give up its mandate to the United Nations.

 

November,                  United Nations agrees to a partition-plan

1947                            for Palestine, creating an Israeli and a Palestinian state (Zionists supported the plan, Arabs opposed it).  Britain will not implement the plan.

 

May 14, 1948             Israel unilaterally declares independence (British mandate ends on May 15th).

 

May, 1948-                 “1948 War”  Israel vs. Egypt, Jordan, Syria,

March, 1949               Lebanon, & Iraq.  Israel wins, and expands beyond original 1947 UN partition plan.  (Split was originally intended to be 56/43 Israeli/Palestinian.  After 1949, Israel controlled 77% of the original British Palestinian mandate).  700,000 Palestinians are made refugees in Israel, Jordan, or Egypt.

 

ISSUES TO BE RESOLVED:          1) Legitimacy of Israeli state

2) Size of Israeli state

3) Refugees—their return and reparation

 

1950                            Jordan annexes the West Bank.

 

1964                            Arab League forms the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). 

 

June 5 – 10,                “The Six-Day War”  Tensions build, UNEF is

1967                            withdrawn.  Israel attacks Egypt, Syria, and Jordan.  The result was the complete defeat of Arab forces.  Israel captured and occupied the Sinai peninsula, the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

 

ISSUES TO BE RESOLVED:  1948 Issues (legitimacy & size of

Israeli state, refugee return and reparation) PLUS:

1)      status of occupied territories

2)      human rights of Palestinians in territories

3)      settlement of Israelis in territories

 

November,                  UN Resolution 242.  Israel ought to return gains from

1967                            from Six-Day War; nations ought to recognize Israel’s sovereignty.  Israelis and Palestinians oppose 242.

                                    **Rise in sense of Palestinian national identity

 

1969                            Yasser Arafat becomes chairman of the PLO.

 

October, 1974             Arab League names PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.  Arafat addresses U.N.

 

March, 1979               Sadat (Egypt) and Begin (Israel) sign Camp David Accords Phase I—Egypt and Israel establish diplomatic relations, and Israel returns the Sinai to Egypt.  Phase II, dealing with the Palestinian issue, ultimately fails.

 

December,                  The Intifada—popular, grassroots uprising (rather

1987                            than organized by the PLO leadership) in the Occupied Territories.  Reaction to 20 years of Israeli martial-law in the territories.  Widespread civil disobedience, boycotts, strikes, protests, and protest-violence.  Important turning-point in world perceptions of Israeli-Palestinian relations.

 

October, 1991             Multi-lateral peace conference involving U.S., Israel, Arab countries, and Palestinian representatives (though not the PLO) held in Madrid, Spain.  Talks fail to make real progress.  The hand of groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad is strengthened.

 

September,                 Oslo Accords—Direct negotiations between Israel

1993                            and PLO leads to “Declaration of Principles”:

1)      mutual recognition

2)      withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza Strip and Jericho

3)      “Additional withdrawals” over 5 years

 

UNRESOLVED ISSUES:

1)   extent of the territories to be ceded by Israel

2)   nature of the Palestinian entity to be established

3)   future of the Israeli settlements and settlers

4)   water rights

5)   resolution of the refugee problem

6)   status of Jerusalem

 

January, 1996             Arafat elected president of the Palestinian Authority

 

1996 – 2000                Sporadic violence, increased Israeli settling, delays in withdrawals.

 

July, 2000                   Camp David II—no agreement reached on major unresolved issues of 1993 Oslo Accords.

September 28,            Al-Aqsa Intifada begins.  Frustration over lack of

2000                            progress since 1993.  Sparked by Sharon’s visit to Temple Mount.  Much more bloody and violent than the first Intifada.  Tit-for-tat violence prevalent.

 

December,                  Arafat confined to Ramallah headquarters

2001

 

September,                 “The Quartet” (UN, EU, Russia, and U.S.) announce

2002                            “Roadmap for Peace.”  Has been updated and adopted by both sides, but not implemented.  Critics suggest it has same weaknesses as Oslo Accords

 

December,                  Sharon announces plan to “unilaterally disengage”

2003                            from the Gaza Strip.

 

July, 2004                   ICJ rules “Security Fence” violates Palestinians’ human rights.

 

 

Who is a Palestinian?

  • “Palestine” comes from Latin (Roman origin), referring to the land of the biblical Philistines.
  • Term fell into disuse for centuries, but British revived it as an official designation for the area that the League of Nations mandated to their supervision after WWI.
  • At the time, the term “Palestine” applied to both the areas to the west of the Jordan (Palestine), and east of the Jordan (modern-day Jordan).
  • Therefore, “Palestinian” originally referred to any inhabitant of the British-mandated territory, whether they were Arab, Jew, or Christian.
  • Today, “Palestinian” refers to the Arab inhabitants (or displaced refugees and their descendents) of the region west of the River Jordan.

 

**Question:  Who is an Arab?

Who is an Arab?

  • Anthropologists suggest the term “Arab” best describes cultural and linguistic groups, rather than groups sharing physical characteristics or racial origins.
  • The ancient Middle East saw process of Arabization and Islamization—but they were not the same process.  Tribes flowed out from the Arab peninsula two centuries before Muhammed.
  • As a general rule, Arab countries are those that share a common culture and speak Arabic as the primary language.
  • Arab countries:  Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, UAE, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya.  Islam is the predominant religion in all these countries, though Lebanon has a sizable Arab Christian minority.
  • Non-Arab Islamic countries include Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, the Sudan, and Somalia.
  • The Kurds are an example of a non-Arab Muslim group.

 

Discussion questions on Coppieters and Sakwa, pp. 228-251:

 

“A Unified China or an Independent Taiwan?” by Xiaokun Song

 

1.      What is the difference between a “permissive” right to secession and a more “restricted” view on the right to secession?  In what ways are the two positions similar?

2.      Which is a more appropriate concept for understanding Mainland China’s position toward Taiwan: irredentism or reunification?

3.      The PRC’s position toward Taiwan has been consistent since 1949.  What is this position?

4.      The position of Taiwan’s authorities with respect to the cross-strait relationship with Mainland China has changed over time.  How has it changed?

5.      What major political changes occurred in Taiwan in the 1980s?

6.      What is the difference between external self-determination and internal self-determination?  Which has Taiwan been denied?

7.      What are the three main ethnic groups in Taiwan?  What portion of the population is each group?

8.      What is the difference between the Mainlanders and the Taiwanese?

9.      What has been the trend over time (in terms of public opinion in Taiwan) in the level of popular support for independence in contrast to popular support for unification?

10.  Does Song find in favor of Taiwan or in favor of the PRC in evaluating the validity of the conflicting territorial claims?

11.  What position has the DPP taken regarding independence for Taiwan?  What grievances have been highlighted by this political party?

12.  How is just war theory related to the question of secession?

13.  What can the United States do to help reduce tensions associated with the Taiwan Strait?

14.  What is the most likely scenario for the future development of nationalism in Taiwan?

 

 

 Taras and Ganguly, pp. 70-91:

 1. What is the difference between the "internationalization of ethnic conflicts" and the "ethnicization of international politics"?

2. What are the four alternative processes by which an ethnic conflict may become internationalized?

3. What factors affect the success of ethnonationalist's diplomatic efforts in their quest for partisan external support?

4. Who might the targets be of international diplomatic activity?

5. Theoretically, what are the two main types of partisan external intervention in ethnic conflicts?

6. What is the difference between affective and instrumental motives for partisan external intervention in ethnic conflicts? What are some examples of each?

7. Which are more common: instrumental or affective motives for partisan external intervention?

8. Even though opportunities for intervention abound, actual cases of intervention in secessionist conflicts are limited. Why is this so (p. 81-82)?

9. What are some of the negative consequences of partisan external intervention?

10. When ethnoterrorism occurs, who tends to be the most frequent target of the terrorists?

11. The proliferation of weapons across the globe affects ethnic conflict. Which countries are the biggest suppliers of weapons?

 Taras and Ganguly, pp. 92-125:

1. Theoretically, what are three ways in which conflict can be resolved? (p. 93)

2. According to conventional wisdom, what are the three requirements that must be fulfilled if peacekeeping operations by international third parties are to be effective? (p. 93)

3. What are the two ways in which international peace enforcement can be undertaken?

4. What are the main differences between arbitration, mediation and facilitation when used by international third parties in negotiating peace (peacemaking) between adversaries?

5. What factors influence the success of a mediator?

6. What is involved in a process of peacebuilding? (p. 97)

7. Theoretically what roles might the United Nations play in conflict resolution? (p. 97)

8. Why has the record of the United Nations in conflict resolution been so dismal? (p. 98-99)

9. What decision-making process must be followed before the United Nations can intervene in a conflict?

10. According to an "international consensus" that has developed since the end of the Cold War, what are the conditions under which the norm of state sovereignty would no longer prohibit the UN from intervening in domestic ethnic conflicts?

11. Why has the UN been fairly unsuccessful in restoring or maintaining peace? (p. 101-102, 106) Given these problems, what do you think the future role of the UN should be with regard to peacekeeping?

12. How has the UN undertaken preventive diplomacy?

13. What factors contribute to the relative success of UN secretary-general in brokering the end of some conflicts? (p. 104-105)

14. According to Article 55 of the UN Charter, what goals does the UN promote?

15. According to the Millennium Report, what were the priority areas identified by UN Secretary-General Kofi Aman?

16. What concrete steps could be taken to make UN peacekeeping operations more effective?

17. Give two examples from the 1990s where the United States assisted as a third party in conflict resolution.

18. What are some of the downsides associated with intervention in a conflict by a major power?

19. What factors might motivate a regional power to intervene in a neighboring conflict?

20. What are some examples of intervention by a regional organization in ethnic conflict? What factors might explain the limited success of these efforts?

Discussion questions of Coppieters, pp. 1-21:

 

1.      The number of independent sovereign states increased fourfold over the 20th Century.  On what basis should some of these putative states join the community of sovereign countries and others not?  (What four themes are examined in the book in an effort to answer this question?)

2.      How are secession, the right to secession, secessionist movement and secessionist process defined?

3.      What is the difference between a “choice” and a “just cause” approach to secession?

4.      What is the difference between an ethnic and a civic concept of citizenship?  Which is considered to be more morally justified when making a case for secession?

5.      How is the notion of erosion of sovereignty in a globalizing world used to diminish arguments in support of secession?

6.      What is the difference between the “declaratory” and the “constitutive” schools of statehood?

7.      What are the advantages of international recognition for a new state?

8.      What are the principles that determine the conditions under which a just war may be started?

 

 

Islam: An Introduction

Islam is the second most popular faith in the world with over a thousand million adherents. Those who follow Islam are called Muslims.

The Bare Essentials of Islam:

·               Over 1300 years old.

·               Islam was revealed to humanity by the Prophet Muhammad

·               Muslims believe that there is only one God, called Allah

§                                The Prophet Muhammad was a human being, not a god.

§                                Muslims believe that Muhammad was the last prophet of God

·               The word Islam means surrender to God

·               The Muslim scripture is the Holy Qur'an

·               The Muslim building for communal worship is called a Mosque

·               The five pillars of Islam help Muslims put their faith into action.

§                                     Shahadah: declaration of faith

§                                     Salat: ritual prayer 5 times a day

§                                     Zakat: giving a fixed proportion to charity

§                                     Sawm: fasting

§                                     Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca

 

·               There are two main groups of Muslims...

§                                     Sunni Muslims make up 90% of the world's Muslims

§                                     The other main group are the Shi'ite Muslims

Beliefs

Allah is the name Muslims use for the supreme and unique God, who created and rules everything.

The heart of faith for all Muslims is obedience to Allah's will.

·         A believer can approach Allah by praying, and by reciting the Qur'an.

·         Muslims worship only Allah.


The division between the Sunnis and the Shia (Shiite) is the largest and oldest in the history of Islam.

When the Prophet died in the early 7th Century he left an Islamic State in the Arabian Peninsula with around one hundred thousand Muslim inhabitants. It was the question of who should succeed the Prophet and lead the fledgling Islamic state that created the divide.

One group of Muslims (the larger group) elected Abu Bakr, a close companion of the Prophet as the next caliph (leader) of the Muslims and he was duly appointed. However a smaller group believed that the Prophet's son-in-law, Ali, should become the caliph. This reflected the belief that leadership of the Muslims is a divine right of the family of the Prophet.

Muslims who believe that Abu Bakr should be the Prophet's successor have come to be known as Sunni. Muslims who believe Ali should have been the Prophet's successor are now known as Shia.

Sunni means 'one who follows the Sunna' (also known as hadiths). Shia is a contraction of the phrase 'Shiat Ali', meaning the 'partisans of Ali'.

The conflict between the Sunni and Shia gave Shia Islam its strong theme of martyrdom. Ali's youngest son, Hussein, ruled Kufa in Iraq. When Yazid, son of the governor of Damascus, Mu'awiya, seized the caliphate in 680 Hussein led a rebellion but was met by Yazid's forces in Karbala, Iraq. Despite knowing he was hopelessly outnumbered, Hussein fought heroically and was killed on the battlefield. This is one of the most significant events in Shia history, where Hussein is considered to have sacrificed his life for the survival of Shia Islam. It is still commemorated today as Ashura where millions of pilgrims still visit the Imam Hussein mosque in Karbala.

Shia Islam there is a strong theme of martyrdom and suffering, focusing on deaths of Ali and, particularly, Hussein plus other important figures in the Shia succession. 

The leadership continued with imams, in lieu of caliphs, believed to be divinely appointed from the Prophet's family until the late 9th Century. According to the Twelvers, the largest Shia sect, Muhammad al-Muntazar al-Mahdi was the twelfth imam in the Prophet's family in the line of Ali and Hussein. The Shia believe that as a young boy Muhammad al-Muntazar al-Mahdi was hidden in a cave below a mosque in Samarra. He disappeared, and not accepting that he had died, the Shia await his return. This is a sacred place for the Shia and they still pray here for the return of the twelfth Imam.

When after several centuries of waiting for his return, spiritual power passed to the ulema, a council of twelve scholars who elected a supreme spiritual leader (Imam), an Ayatollah. Ayatollah translates literally from Arabic as 'Sign of Allah' and as the name suggests is bestowed with great religious authority.

The best known modern example of the Shia supreme Imam is the late Ayyatollah Khomeni, whose portrait hangs in many Shia homes.

Shia Muslims have always maintained that the Prophet's  family were the rightful leaders of the Islamic world. Although the Shia never ruled the majority of Muslims they did have their successes. The empire of the Safavid dynasties in the 16th Century was a great political triumph for Shia Islam, encompassing parts of modern Iran, Azerbaijan and Iraq. Today, Iran is the political face of Shia Islam.

Politically, Sunni Islam continued through the Umayyads and other dynasties that led to the powerful Ottoman and Mughal empires of the 15th to 20th Centuries. In the wake of these empires the Sunnis emerged as an over-arching identity grouping close to 90% of the now one billion Muslims. Sunnis have a large populations stretching geographically from the Indonesian archipelago through the Indian subcontinent, central Asia, the Arab world and Africa to the periphery of Europe.

Shias Today
Shia Muslims live in all parts of the world, but some countries have a higher concentration of Shia. Iran is almost entirely Shia, and of the 95% Muslim population of Iraq, about 2/3 are Shia; they were oppressed by the Sunni-dominated Ba'ath Party that ruled Iraq. Large Shia populations are also found in Pakistan (20%), the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia (10%), Bahrain (almost 70%), Oman, with smaller groups in other parts of the Arabian Gulf.

Within Shia Islam there are different sects.  Most Shias are "Twelvers", i.e. they recognize the 12 Imams. There are also Sevener and Fiver Shias who don't recognize the later Imams. 

How do Sunni and Shia differ theologically?

Sunni and Shi'i Islam share three core doctrines, oneness of God, the belief in the revelations of Muhammad, and the belief in resurrection on the Day of Judgment.

(1) Initially the difference between Sunni and Shia was merely a difference concerning who should lead the Muslim community.

Shia Muslims accept Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, as the legal successor of Muhammad and disregard three of the other four caliphs who succeeded him. They also regard twelve descendants of Ali as Imams, or spiritual successors of the Prophet.

Sunni Islam revere Ali, but does not hold him up as the only true continuation of the tradition from Muhammad, and has no emphasis on him bringing on a divine light from the Prophet.  Shia theology is distinguished by its glorification of Ali. 

(2) The Shia however not only preferred the family of the Prophet in their choice of leadership but also with regard to the Hadith Literature.

The hadith are collections of sayings and acts of Muhammad and the first Muslims. These collections are used as an addition to the Holy Koran for understanding Islam. When the revelations that Muhammad received ended with his death in 632, many Muslims felt that there were questions that would be enlightened, or even answered, if one had more information on what was right conduct in different situations.  The resulting work was 6 collections, or hadiths. The development of Muslim lifestyles and theology has probably been built upon the hadiths as much as by the Holy Koran.

The interpretation of Hadith is an Islamic science for both Shia and Sunnis. The Shia give preference to the Hadith as narrated by Ali and Fatima and their close associates. The Sunnis consider the Hadith narrated by any of twelve thousand companions equally. This ultimately led to a different understanding of Islam.

Sunni Islam has a different set of hadiths from Shi'i Islam.

(3) Sunni Islam puts far more importance into the hajj (Pilgrimage in Islam, to Mecca, that is compulsory to Muslims of good health and with sufficient funds to make the journey), while Shi'i Islam has other important pilgrimages as well.

(4) The Shia Imam has come to be imbued with Pope-like infallibility and the Shia have a strict religious hierarchy. Sunni Islam, in contrast, does not have a formal clergy, just scholars and jurists, who may offer non-binding opinions.  Shias believe that their supreme Imam is a fully spiritual guide, inheriting some of Muhammad's inspiration ("light").  Their imams are believed to be inerrant interpreters of law and tradition. 

Practical Differences:
Sunni Muslims pray five times a day, whereas Shia Muslims can combine prayers to pray three times a day. Shia prayers can often be identified by a small tablet of clay, from a holy place (often Karbala), on which they place their forehead whilst prostrating in prayer.

The practice of Muttah marriage, a temporary marriage, is also permitted in Shia Islam but Sunnis considered it forbidden as they believe the Prophet abolished it.

There are two major groups of believers in Shia Islam, with the majority (primarily found in Iran and Iraq) following the Twelver version of Shia. The term "Shia" is often taken to be synonymous with the Twelvers. There are also several forms of Sevener Shia sects, the largest being known as Ismailis. The Seveners and Twelvers differ regarding the rights of succession after the death of Muhammad, but they agree that the Sunni have usurped the rightful authority of Muhammad's family descendants.

How do Sunni and Shia view each other?
Sunnis and Shias agree on the core fundamentals of Islam - the Five Pillars - and recognize each others as Muslims.  At the institutional level Shaikh Mahmood Shaltoot of Al-Azhar, Cairo, the oldest institution of Islamic learning considers Shia Islam to be an equally valid school of thought, along with the four Sunni schools.

References and Bibliography
A History of the Arab Peoples, Hourani, Albert, pub. 1991, Faber and Faber Ltd

Primary Source:            http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/index.shtml

 

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