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Violence and the Social Construction of Ethnic IdentityTheft of an Idol. by Paul Brass; War of Visions: Conflict of Identities in the Sudan. byFrancis M. Deng; Legends of People/Myths of State: Violence, Intolerance, and PoliticalCulture in Sri Lanka and Australia. by Bruce Kapferer; Explaning Northern Ireland: BrokenImages. by John McGarry; Brendan O'Leary; The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide. byGerard Prunier; Balkan Tragedy: Chaos and Dissolution after t ...Review by: James D. Fearon and David D. LatinInternational Organization, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Autumn, 2000), pp. 845-877Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2601384 .
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Violence nd the
Social
Construction
ofEthnic
dentity
James . Fearon ndDavidD. Laitin
Paul
Brass.
1997.
Theftf
n Idol.
Princeton,
.J.: rinceton
niversity
ress.
FrancisM. Deng. 1995. War fVisions:
onflict
f dentitiesn the udan.
Washington,
.C.:
Brookings
nstitution.
BruceKapferer.988.Legends fPeople/MythsfState:Violence,ntolerance,
and PoliticalCulturen SriLanka ndAustralia.
Washington,
.C.:
Smithsonian
Institutionress.
JohnMcGarryndBrendan 'Leary.1995.Explaining orthernreland:Broken
Images.Oxford: lackwell.
Gerard
runier.
995.
The
RwandaCrisis:
History f
Genocide.New York:
ColumbiaUniversity
ress.
Susan
L.
Woodward.
995.
Balkan
Tragedy:
haos and Dissolution
fter
he
Cold War.
Washington,
.C.:
Brookings
nstitution.
Is there ase study vidence f a relationshipetween he social constructionf
ethnicdentitiesndtheprobabilityfethnicwar?The mere bservationhat thnic
identitiesresocially
onstructed
oes
not
by
tself
xplain thnic iolence ndmay
not venbe
particularly
elevant. ur
purpose
ere s to see
if
we can
reject
he
null
hypothesis
hat he social constructionf
ethnicity
as little r no
bearing n
the
likelihood f ethnic iolence.Our
procedure
s to examine
losely
he
narrativesf
expert
bservers
f some
highly
iolent
pisodes
of ethnic elations.
lthough
differentet
of case
studiesmight ield
different
verall onclusions,henarratives
we examined ontain seful luesabout hemechanismshat ink
dentity
onstruc-
tion
ndethnic iolence.'
We are ndebted o
Paul
Brass,
Kanchan
handra,
rancis
eng,Lynn den,Page Fortna, ary
Her-
rigel,
eter
Katzenstein,
en6
Lemarchand,
ohn
McGarry,
illiam
ewell,
Jack
nyder,
onald
Suny,
and
SusanWoodward
or ommentsn earlier raftsfthis rticle.
1.
On mechanismsnd ocial
explanation,
ee Hedstr6mnd
Swedberg 998.
International
rganization4, 4,
Autumn
000,pp.
845-877
(
2000
by
The
10
Foundation
ndthe
Massachusetts
nstitute
f
Technology
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846 Internationalrganization
We
first
evelop he heoreticalmplicationsfthe bservationhat thnicdenti-
ties re ocially onstructedor xplainingthnic iolence. fternalyzing hat he
statementethnic dentitiesre socially onstructed" ightmean,we develop wo
waysto construehe laim hat rocesses f constructingdentities elpto explain
ethnic iolence.
f
ndividualsreviewed s the gentswhoconstructthnicdenti-
ties, hen onstructivistxplanationsor thnic iolence end o mergewith ational-
ist, trategicnalyses, articularlyhose hat mphasize litemanipulationf mass
publics ut lso those hat ee violence temmingrom thnicnteractionson the
ground."n contrast,f "discursive ormations"r cultural ystemsre seen as the
agents
hat
onstructthnicdentities,hen onstructivistxplanationsor thnic io-
lencetend o mergewith ulturalistccounts hat tress he nternalogic of cultur-
ally specificways
of
thinking,ailking,
nd
acting.
n this
pproach,
ome or all
discourses
f
ethnicity
reate
disposition
o violence.
In the econd ectionwe turn othe ooksunder eview, sing hem s a "sample"
to assesswhichmechanismsrom he
heory
ection eem o matter
mpiricallynd
as a source
or
new deas about inks etween
dentity
onstructionnd ethnic io-
lence.
We find onsiderablevidence inkingtrategicspects
f
the onstructionf
ethnicdentitieso
violence,
ndmore imited vidence
mplicatingpecific
ultural
or discursive
ystems.
f
theres a dominantr most ommon arrativen the exts
under eview,t s thatarge-scalethnic iolence s provoked yelites eeking o
gain,maintain,
r increase heir old on
political ower.
An
interesting
eature f
several fthese ase studiess that nternalonflictsetween xtremistsndmoder-
ates
belonging
oa
single
thnic
roup pur
eaders rdissidentso
provoke
iolence
withmembers f
an out-group.
iolencehas the
effect,ntended y
the
elites,
f
constructingroup dentities
n more
ntagonisticndrigidways.
These
newly
on-
structedor reconstructed)
thnic dentitieserve o increase
upport
or heelites
who
provoked
he iolencewhile
avoring
he
ontinuation
rescalation fviolence.
A
major uzzle
n this
tory
s
why
thnic
ublics
ollow eaders own
paths
hat
seemto serve litepower nterests ost f all. None of the uthorsystematically
addresses his
uestion,
ut
heir ase studies
rovide
number
f
nterestingugges-
tions. woof he
uthors,
ruce
Kapferer
nd
Gerard
runier,
nswer he
uestion y
arguing
hat thnic
ublics
re
conditionedr constituted
y
ethnic iscourses
hat
predispose
hem o violence
gainst
thnic thers. t east n
Kapferer's ook,
we
note hat his iscursive
onstructivist
pproach
ll too
easily
alls nto
primordial-
ist mode of
interpretation
hat onstructivists
schew;
t tends o treat thnic is-
courses s
unchanging
ssences
hat
trongly
eterminendividuals' ctions.2 ev-
eralother
ossible
nswers o the
"why
do
publics
ollow?"
uestion
eceive ome
supportn the ase studies,hemostntriguingfwhich s thepossibilityhat fol-
lowers"
often
re
not so much
following
s
pursuing
heir wn ocal or
personal
agendas
not
directly
elated o ethnic
ntipathy.
2. A
major roblem esetting
ulturalist
ccounts,
s Brubaker
nd
Cooper rgue,
s that o avoid
the
trap
f
"
'essentialism'
y stipulating
hat dentities
re
constructed,luid,
nd
multiple,"
ulturalistsre
hard
ressed
o "understandhe ometimesoercive orce" f
dentity.
rubaker
nd
Cooper 000,
1.
We
address his
rony
n the econd ection.
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Violence nd
Ethnicdentity
onstruction
47
In the econd ectionwe also present vidence
hat rdinaryolk not ust
elites)
strategicallyonstructthnic oundaries. ere thnic
iolence rises ut
f
he
olic-
ing ffortsfthosewho reunhappy ith ssimilationrbymarginal embersf a
groupwhowant ogain tatuswith hosewhose
memberships not n doubt.
rancis
M.
Deng's discussion
fborder
reas n Sudanese ivilwar ontainsome
nteresting
examples fviolence mergingrom hese
mechanisms.
In the hird
ectionwe conclude hat he onstructivistpproach as been
uccess-
ful
n
discrediting
rimordialistxplanations.
ts
presentmission,
e
suggest, ught
to
be more igorous
esting
f
the hree
onstructivistpproacheshown s plausible
in thebooks
under eview-thosebased on discursiveogics,thosebased on
the
strategicctions felites,ndthose asedon the trategicctions fthemasses.
We should tress tthe
utset
what s
probablylready pparent.
his rticle
s
not
a
conventionalook review. n thefirst
lace,
we make ittle ffort
o assess
the
considerableontributionsfeachauthor othe
iterature
n
the olitics
f
the oun-
try
n
question.
econd, lthough
e offer
pinions
n each author'smain
argu-
ments,we are
generallymore oncerned o
minethese ase studies or vidence
relevant o our
nquiry.We
do
not pretend
hat
hesebooks constitute random
sample;
differentooks
might
ave
suggested
omewhat ifferent
echanismsnd
differentssessments f
relative mportance.3
ur
goal
was
to
find
ecent tudies
writtenyscholarswhowere ensitiveo thepoliticsndcultureftheir ases both
"on the
ground"
among
he
mass
public)
nd "at the
op" among he lites).The
books
under eview re ll
exemplary
n
relating
he
lobal
acts f
arge-scale
thnic
violence
o
both ocal mechanismsnd more
tructuralauses.We makeno claim
that hese re thebest n
this
egard. owever,
e were
ufficientlympressed
rom
first eadings o reread
hem
or
urmainpurpose: n
inquiry
nto he
relationship
between
thnic
dentity
onstruction
nd
ethnic
iolence.
What s Ethnic dentitynd How Is It Constructed?
The assertionhat
ethnicity
s
socially
onstructed"
s
commonplacemong
ocial
scientists,
nd t
s
widely upposed
hat
nyone
whofails o
grasp
his actwillnot
be able to
explain
r
understandthnic iolence.
Nonetheless,
o
iterature
rticulat-
ing
theoretical
r
empirical
onnectionsetween he ocial
construction
f
ethnicity
and violence
yet
xists.No
positive heory
inks
rocesses
f
social constructions
independent
ariables o the ccurrence
f
ethnic iolence s a
dependent
ariable.
Instead,s in the ooksunder eview, efindonstructivistmoves"mixed poradi-
cally
with
modes
f
nalysis
hat
o
not eem
particularlyonstructivist,
nd s far s
we
know, erhaps
xcluding
aul
Brass,
no one has offered
developed
tatementf
3.
Initially,
e searched or
elf-consciously
onstructivist
nalyses
f ethnic iolence utfound l-
most
nothing
orth
eviewingapart
rom rass's excellent
ook,
which
ppeared
fter
we startedhis
project).Next,
we
searched or
areful
mpirical
ase studies f
arge-scale
thnic iolence
y
authors
from
variety
f
disciplines.
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848 Internationalrganization
a constructivistheory f ethnic iolence.Our purpose n this ection s to suggest
possibilitiesnthis irection;hats,we sketch ome rgumentspplyingonstructiv-
istformulationsndconcepts o the pecific roblem fethnic iolence.
We
beginby askingwhat
t
means o say that dentitiesre socially onstructed.
Thisrequires statementf hemeaning fboth ubject ndpredicate. e take t hat
an "identity" ere efers o a social category-Serb,man,homosexual, merican,
Catholic, orker,nd o on-and in particularoa socialcategoryhat n ndividual
memberither akes specialpride n or views s a more-or-lessnchangeablend
socially onsequentialttribute.4ocial categoriesre ets fpeoplegiven label or
labels) and distinguishedytwomain eatures:1) rules fmembershiphat ecide
who s and s not memberfthe ategory;nd 2) content,hats, sets fcharacter-
istics such s beliefs, esires,moral ommitments,ndphysical ttributes)hought
to
be
typical
fmembersf the
ategory,
r
behaviors xpected
r
obliged f mem-
bers n certain ituationsroles).We would lso include n contenthe ocial valua-
tion fmembersfthis
ategory
elative o others
contestation
verwhich s often
called
"identityolitics").
The category professor,"or xample, as rulesof membershipefined y a
credentialingrocess
nd the
requirement
f
being mployed
s a
professor,nd
a
contenthat
ncludes host
f
norms
or
roper
ehavior.
thnicdentitiesreunder-
stood o be definedmainly ydescent ules fgroupmembershipnd contentypi-
cally omposed
f ultural
ttributes,
uch s
religion,anguage, ustoms,
nd hared
historical
yths.
What oes
t
mean, hen,
o
say
that dentitiesre
socially
onstructed?or a first
cut,
we understandheclaimto be
that
ocial
categories,
heir
membershipules,
content,
nd valuation re the
products
f
human ction nd
speech,
nd that
s
a
result hey an and do change ver
ime.
With he omewhatmurkyerm dentities
translateds themore oncrete erm ocial
categories,
his
hardly
eems n
excep-
tional
laim. t even
verges
n
tautology.
ow could ocial
categories
e
something
other han ocially onstructed?5
The
answer,mplicit
n
much onstructivist
ork,
s that
eople
often
elieve,
mistakenly,
hat ertainocial
ategories
re
natural,nevitable,
nd
unchanging
acts
about hesocial world.
They
believe
that
articular
ocial
categories
re
fixed
y
human ature
atherhan
y
social conventionnd
practice.
eliefs n thenatural-
ness of a social
categorymight
e
rooted
n beliefs bout
lleged mplications
f
biology for xample, ender,exuality,
nd
thnicity
n
some
formulations)
r
bout
theology
nd
morality.
uch beliefs
egarding
social
categorymight
e termed
everydayrimordialism.6
uchconstructivist
aborhas beendevoted o undermin-
ing verydayrimordialistssumptionsy showing
ow
he
ontent
nd
even
mem-
4. Thisbrief
ummary
tatement
oes notdo full
ustice
othe
omplexity
fthe
oncept
f
"identity"
as it s
presentlysed;
see Fearon
1999,
for n extended
nalysis,
rom
hich his
ummary
ormulation
derives.
5.
On
this
oint,
ee also
Hacking
999.
6.
Apologies
o
Elster,
ho oined
he
erm
everyday
antianism."lster
989.
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Violence ndEthnicdentityonstruction 49
bership ules of taken-for-grantedategories ike man/womanr heterosexual/
homosexual avechanged ver ime.7
How doesthis onstructivistbservationear on theexplanationf ethnic io-
lence?When iscussingthnic iolence, he onstructivists'ain argets primordi-
alism.8 rimordialistsre said to believe hat onflictetween woethnic roups,
andB,
is
inevitable ecause
of
unchanging,ssential haracteristicsf themembers
of
these ategories.n particular,rimordialistsuggest hat thnic iolence esults
from ntipathiesndantagonismshat reenduringropertiesf ethnic roups. he
constructivistosition ejects henotion funchanging,ssential haracteristicsnd
thus
ejects
his laim.The
mplication
s that ven
f
membersfA andB
are
hostile
to each other ow, his eednotbe (andprobably as notbeen) n eternal ondition.
By tself his s an unexceptionallaim gainst weak"theory" arelydvanced n
pure
form
n
treatises n ethnic iolence. t is sometimes
ound
n themouths f
politicianseeking o ustify ourses f action "ancienthatreds" rguments)r by
journalistseportingveryday rimordialist
eliefs s historical acts.More
mpor-
tant, rimordialistssumptions
f this ort o sometimes
reep nto
more
bstract
social science
models
eeking o makegeneral laims bout thnic iolence.Alvin
Rabushka nd Kenneth hepsle'stheory
f
ethnic utbidding,rawing n classic
works n
anthropologyncluding
hose fM. G.
Smith
nd
J.S. Furnivall,ssumed
that plural" olitieswould lways ontain well-definedthnic roupswith ener-
ally ncompatiblealues."9Analyses f consociation order n primordialisms
they ssumeunchangingnd unchangeablethnic dentities.'0ut therejection f
these otions
s
basically negative oint
atherhan
positive rgumentboutwhy
ethnic
iolence ccurs.
A more
rovocative
nd
nterestingntiprimordialist
laim s that hemembersf
any
wo thnic
roups
and
B
neednot hink
f
themselves
s A's andB's at all. For
instance, constructivistight rgue hat hepeoplesknown s Croats nd Serbs
might, ith differentineteenth-centuryolitical istory,
e known
s
the
South
Slavs,orsimplys the erbs."1he claim s that ot nlydoes the ontentf social
categorieshange ver
ime ut o do the
boundaries
etween hem.
7.
Everyday rimordialism
s
thus
n
part
n nstance
f
the
s/oughtallacy.
t s
not
rue,
onstructiv-
ists
ssert,
hat ecause
ome
ystem
f ocial
ategoriesxists,
he
ystem
s "natural" nd
ought
oexist.
Compare ardin 995, 0-65.
8. In
the cademic
iteratures
n nationalismnd thnic
olitics, primordialism"
s tself
omething
f
a constructf constructivists.or
example,
he
tandard
ite
for
he
primordialistallacy
s Geertz
973,
255-310,
where he
fallacy
s nowhere
ommitted. eertz
olds hat
eoples'
beliefs
n their
rimordial
attachments,
atherhan
he
nherent
mmutability
f
those
ttachments,
rive
thnic onflict
n
noncivic
societies. e postulateshat rimordialdentitiesan exhibit hemselvesn a varietyffashionssuch s
ethnically,eligiously,inguistically),
one
f
hem
eing
natural
ategory.
n
other
fhis
essays
n
Bali,
however,
e
appears
o be a
primordialist.
e writes s if therewerean immutable alinese
way
of
thinking
bout
heworld. ere ocial
dentities
re
presented
s
"givens"
ather
han,
s
antiprimordialists
wouldhave
t,
s "takens." n this
oint,
ee Laitin
986, hap.
1.
9. Rabushka
nd
Shepsle1972,
0. For
heir
ources,
ee Fumivall
948;
nd
Smith 965.
10.
See,
for
xample, ijphart
977.
11. Banac's evidence
uggests
hat s late as
thefirst
ecade of the wentieth
entury
here
was
no
agreementmong
lites
n
theBalkans hat roats
nd
Serbs
onstitutedwo
distinct ationalities.anac
1984.
For
treatment
f his
rgument
n
regard
o
Somali lan
dentities,
ee
Laitin1983.
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850 International
rganization
If
this onstructivist
bservations correct-and or irtually
ll ethnic roups t
surelys, fone goes
backfar nough12-thenne might rgue
hat good explana-
tion or thnic iolence etween 's andB's requires n account fwhymembersf
these
roups ivide hemselvesn thisway.A
popular wareness
fethnic ategories
is
surely necessary
ondition or ethnic iolence."But s this
necessary ondi-
tion
hat eedsto be elaboratedn order o
offer good
explanation? erhaps, r
perhaps ot. n
explainingWorldWar ,
we
do not ypically emand n account f
whyFrance nd
Germany
ere
eparate ountriesn 1914.13
oes a good explana-
tion
or
iolence
etween
erbs ndCroats n
1991need n account f
henineteenth-
centuryrigins f the
present erb/Croat
istinction,
r
whyTito'sregime ailed o
replace eparate erb,Croat,Macedonian, lbanian, ndMuslim ategories ith he
overarchingYugoslav"
dentity? hile hese re mportant
ssuesfor ertain ues-
tions
ne might sk-for
example,why society as a certain
leavage tructure-
they
re
not
necessarily
elevantn an
explanation or
erb/Croat
r
Muslim/Serb/
Croat r
Albanian/Serb
iolence ost-1991.
It is certainly
nterestingo knowwhere
set
of
ethnic istinctionsame from
historicallyndwhy
hey avepersisted,ndthis nformation
ight r might otbe
deemed
mportant
n an
explanation
f
ethnic iolence.
However,
f
theprocess y
which ither he ontentr
boundary
f
an
ethnic
dentity
s
constructed
tself ields
violence,henwe would urely ay hat he ocial onstructionf thnicitysrelevant
to the
xplanation.
This
point eturns
s to
thequestion
f
what he
propositionidentitiesre
so-
cially
onstructed"
eans.
he
glossgiven arlier
was
really
oo
narrow-the laim
can
suggest
more han
ust
that he ntension
nd
extension
f,
ay,
"Serb"
varies
over
ime s a result
f
speech
nd action. t
can also invoke
specific rocessby
which
dentities
re
produced
nd
reproduced
n
action nd
speech.Unfortunately,
general tatementsbouthow this
process
works re hard
o
find n constructivist
writing.
Wesuggesthree ays o characterizehat onstructingn dentityntails. hese
approachesiffer
n
whether
hey
ee broad
tructural
orces,
iscursive
ormations,
or
ndividualss the
gents
hat ct o
produce
r
reproduce system
f ocial
atego-
ries.We
proceed
o sketch
ut
what ach
approachmightmply
or constructivist
theory
f
ethnic iolence.
Keep
n mind
hat
constructing
n
dentity" ay
efer o
either
he ontent
f a
social
category,
uch
s
making
erbs
believe hat erbs
an-
not ive
with
roats,
ndvice
versa,
rthe
oundaryules,
uch
s
making
Montene-
grins
elieve
hey
re
Yugoslavs,
r
peasants
n
Gascony elieve
hey
reFrench.
12.
ButArmstrong
hows hat t east omeboundaries-such s those
etween
omance nd
German-
speaking eoples-have
not
hanged
t all over
he
ourse f a millennium.
rmstrong
982.
To
be
sure,
change
has occurred
n the social
content f
what
haracteristics
embers f
each
category ught
o
exemplify.
13. Nor s an
explanation
or
nterstate
ar n
general
hought
o
require
n
account f
why
here
s
a
states'
ystem,hough
he
question
s
certainlynteresting
nd fundamental
or
nternationalelations
theory.ee,
for
xample, uggie
983;
nd
Spruyt
994.
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Violence ndEthnicdentityonstruction 51
Social and
Economic
rocesses s Agents fConstruction
The iteraturen nationalismssociatedwithKarlDeutsch, rnest ellner, enedict
Anderson, nd others epresentserhaps hebest developed case
study" f the
socialconstructionf n
dentity-namely,
ational
dentity.
hese uthorseject he
primordialistiew
of
nations s historicallymmanent,rguingnstead
hat he dea
of nationalityecame ompellingo peopleonly
n
themodern eriod s a result f
economic ndattendantocial
changes.
orthese
uthors,
ationaldentitiesrethe
local political nd psychological onsequences f macrohistoricalorces. or in-
stance,Gellner rgues
hat
y making pwardmobility ossible
or he iteratend
school-educated,
conomicmodernization
oliticized
acets
f
culture
hat
werepo-
liticallyrrelevantn the remoderneriod.National dentitiesrise s people ealize
that ow
they
ommunicate
andespecially
heir irst
anguage)
eterminesheirife
chances.Andersonddsthe dea that heboundaries
f
nationaldentitiesavebeen
shaped s an almost
ccidental
y-product
f
"print apitalism,"
he creation f
vernacular
eading
ommunities
y
booksellers
eeking
markets
eyond defunct
Latin nd
the
imited pread
f
ocal dialects.
4
It s difficulto ee how uch broad istoricalrocess s economic
modernization
could
xplain
iolence etween
articular
thnic
roups, xcept ossibly
s
part
f
a
"necessary
ondition"
rgumentoncerning
he ormationfthe thnicdentitiesn
the irstlace.Not llcontiguousroups ight-farromt-whereas conomicmod-
ernization
nd
he
reation
fethno-nationalommunities
hrough
odemmassme-
dia are
processes
hat ave ffected
ll
groups.
Social Construction
y
Discourse
An alternative
nterpretation
f he
rocess
nvoked
y
ocial onstructionocates he
action t the evel of
supra-individualhings
ike
discursive
ormationsr
symbolic
orculturalystemshat ave heir wn ogicoragency.
5
Inthese nalyses,ndividu-
als are
pawns
or
products
f
discourses
hat xist nd move
ndependently
f the
actions f
anyparticular
ndividual.
or
example,
ne
might rgue
hat
general
modern,
Westem iscourse f
ethnicity/nationalism
s a crucial
nderlying
actor
n
explaining
thnic
iolence.
Kapferer
akes
uggestionslong
hese
ines,
onnect-
ingethnic
iolence
o
modem olonialism.
6
Butas with he ase ofeconomicmod-
emization,
olonialismnd ts ttendantiscourses
re
ubiquitous
nAfrica nd
Asia,
butviolence
s
not.At best,
he
modemdiscourse
f
ethnicity ight
e seen as a
necessary
onditionor
oliticized thnicity
ndthus thnic ar.
As anotherxample, akethepropositionhat hesocial constructionfgroup
identitiesecessarily
nvolves
ifferentiating
ne's self
rone's
group
rom n
Other,
and
that herefore
dentity
onstruction
ecessarily
ntails he
otential
or
violent,
antagonisticelationship
ith heOther.
lthough
his
roposition
eems oundercut
14. See Deutsch
953;
Gellner
983;
nd
Anderson
983.
15. On "discursive ormations"s
a source f
explanation,
ee Foucault
972, hap.
2.
16.
Kapferer 988,
0-91.
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852 Internationalrganization
the entral onstructivistlaim hat dentitiesan be constructedn nonantagonistic
ways, t s still constructivist-typergumentue to ts laim hat otgenesbut he
internalogicofdiscourses rives dentityonstruction.17
Thepropositiononly mpliednthis enre) s that necan analyze nddiscern he
logicofthe iscourse r ymbolicystemhat onstructsndividualsndgroups, nd
makepredictionsrom his s to the ikelihood f a range f practices,ncluding
violence.Geertz, or xample, xamined hediscursive ormationurroundinghe
Balinese ockfight. hilehe warned gainst sing tfor redictiveurposes, e did
suggest hat heBalinese o feared heirpresumed)apacity o actwith he erocity
of heir
cocks" that hey rganize hemselvesocially o that motional isplays re
considered
nappropriate.eertz uggests hat is analysis f the ymbols sed n
cock fightingwherewe see theferocious ocks as metaphorsf thebeneath-the-
surface motionshat edevil heir wners) ivesus an understandingf themassa-
cres hat ook
place
n Bali in
1965,making
t seem "less like contradictiono the
laws
of
nature" hat n extraordinarilyeserved nd peaceful ociety ould be ca-
pableof sudden utburstfunimaginableerocity.18
Sometimes iscursiveogics re thoughtf as cultural scripts"
n
which eople
unreflectivelylay
their roles." n his
reconstruction
f
a 1990 pogrom
n
post-
SovietKirgizia
n
which 20 Uzbeks, ifty irgiz, nd one Russian
werekilled n a
week,Valery
ishkov
writes hat he "youngKirgiz n horseback
were
trying
o
demonstrateheirtrengthndsuperiorityy iftingpanopponent yhis egsand
smashing
im
down n theground-exactlyn theway he egendary irgiz eroes
supposedly verpowered
heir nemies.
We
have read
bout
t
a
lot,
but
his s
the
firstimewe've hadthe hance o
try
t
out
for
urselves ', hey
aid."
19
This
symbolic pproach
o
identityuggests
hat he
development
f discursive
formationsan setone
group
n
opposition
o
another
r
predispose
hem
o see the
other s a
threat r
natural
ubject
or
violence, ndependent
f
any
morematerial
basis for
hostility.
hile his
pproach
s
elegant
nd not
necessarilyubject
o
pri-
mordialist
ssentialism,
e would till
ike
to
knowhow
these
discourses re sus-
tained nd
why,
n the
brink f
violence, hey
re
not bandoned
r
reinterpreted.
Indeed,
he
only
extended
ttempt
o
apply
uch
an
argument
n thebooks
under
review-Kapferer'srgumentoncerning
he iscursive
ormation
f
Sinhalese
myths
of
Vijaya,
whichwe treatn the hirdection-comes ut
ounding
oth o us andto
some
ofhiscriticsike
primordialistxplanation
ndnot constructivist
ne.
This
rony
s worth
xploring.
n
practice,
he
onstruction-by-discourse
iew
has
close affinitiesith
n older
tyle
fculturalist
nalysis
nthatt
macks fessential-
ism. Olderculturalist
pproaches ortrayed
ultures
s
highly ounded, nternally
coherent,nd static ntitieshat tronglyeterminehebehaviorf themembers f
the
roups hey
onstitute.20he newer onstructivistulturalism
ejects
he dea that
17.
Ferejohn
eferso
"subtler
deational
ogics"
hat
may
xist n the
phere
f
meanings,eeing
hem
as distinct rom he
rational hoicecalculations
n
the
phere
f action
n
explaining
ocial events nd
practices. erejohn 991,
85.
18. Geertz
973,452.
19.
Tishkov
997,
154.
20.
A
classic
tudy
n this
egard
s
Benedict 959.
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Violence ndEthnicdentity
onstruction 53
culturesndthediscourse hat
hape
r
define hem rebounded,
oherent,r static.
For example, onstructivist
ritingn ethnic elations as stressed
ow thepresent
conception f, ay, aste n ndiaderives rimarilyrom ritish olonial heories.21
But t retains he dea that
iscourses/culturesefine dentitiesnd
shapeor deter-
mine
ctions.
How is it
possiblefordiscourses o shape action f discourses
hemselvesre
complex,multifaceted,
nd
subject
o
all
manner f
nterpretations?o give a con-
crete
xample, onsider
he
Catalonian iscourse
round
he
oncept
f
seny,which
implies pragmatic
eet-on-the-groundpproach o ife hat elpsCatalans o differ-
entiate hemselvesrom he
maginednefficiency
f
Spaniards.
an
we saythat his
discourse hapesCatalan ehavior? o do
so
we
wouldneedto ask why he qually
availableCatalandiscourse n raxha,which uggests hespontaneousndmore
ribald
spect
f Catalan
ulture, lays
far ess
a
role
n
contemporary
atalan elf-
revelations.atalan iscourses re o multifacetedhat arts fthose
iscourses an
be
appropriatedo
naturalize
whole
range
f
cultural
ractices.
his
problem ill
be raised
gain
whenwe ask whetherheres
evidence
f
pecific
ultural iscourses
producing
iolence
n
the
ase studies nder eview.
Individuals
s
Agents fConstruction
A
third ossibilitys that thnic
dentities-theontentndboundaryules fethnic
categories-might
e constructed
y
the
ctions
f ndividuals
eeking arious nds.
Consider,
or
xample,
he
proposition
hat thnic
iolence ccurswhen
political
elitesconstruct
ntagonistic
thnic dentities
n
order o
strengthen
heir old
on
power.
n
this
pproach,
he
nsights
f a
"constructivist"
pproachmergewith,
r
becomehard o
distinguishrom,
rationalist
r
strategic
hoice
pproach.
Strategic
ction
by
elites. What
he
pre-constructivist
iterature
n
ethnic onflict
termedelite heoriesf thnic iolence" rovides romisingroundsor construc-
tivist
heory
fethnic iolence n this ense.
ndeed,
t s
striking
ndno
coincidence
that
irtuallyvery
elf-identifiedonstructivisthohas writtenn ethnic
iolence,
andmost
learly
rass
mong
he uthorsfreviewed
exts,
as tended oblame lite
machinationsnd
politicking.22
n
these
rguments,
thnic iolence s
explained
s
both means nd a
by-product
f
political
lites' ffortso hold or
acquire ower.
Elitesfoment
thnic
iolence o
build
political upport;
his
rocess
as the ffectf
constructing
ore
ntagonistic
dentities,
hich avorsmore
iolence.
rguments
f
this
ort avebeen roundn
political
cience nd
sociology
or
long
ime, hough
withouthe onstructivistanguage.23
The
puzzle
for uch heoretical
rguments
s to
explain
how
elites
an convince
their ollowers o
adopt
falsebeliefs
nd
take
ctions
hat hefollowers ouldnot
want otake
f
hey
nderstood hat
he
eaderswere
p
to.
fthe
lites
re
ustdoing
21.
See
Pandey
990.
22. See
also
Tambiah 996
nd
1986.
Kapfererrgues imilarlysee
footnote
8).
Kapferer
988.
23. See
Simmel
1955;
and
Coser 1956. See also the
diversionary
ar
iterature,
or
xample, evy
1989.
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854 International
rganization
what heir
ollowers ant hem o do,then
tseems nappropriate
oblame he
lites.
In other
ords,fviolence nd
hardenedthnic oundaries
erve lite
utnot opular
interests,henwhat xplains opular thnic ntipathies?uppose hat he eader f
one group rovokes
violentncident
ithmembersf
nother roup.
Why runder
what onditionshould
his ncident construct"
he
group n a more ntagonistic
manner,
ncreasingupport or
he eader
nd disposing hegroup
oward et
more
violence?
These rethe uestions
hat
coherentonstructivist
heoryfethnic iolence
in
this ense
of
"identities
re socially onstructed")
eeds to answer,
nd they re
difficult
uestions.24rass,
for xample, resents
n elite heory
f ethnic iolence
that rawsheavily
n
constructivist
riting.
e argues hat ndian
lites ngaged
n
contestsor ower ometimes indt ntheirnterestopublicly rame iolentnci-
dents
s
"communal,"
n
interpretation
hat s then ccepted y
publicsfavoring
more iolence.
utwhy o publics
o readily redit lites'
ramings?ttimes
rass
seems ware hat
t
s odd
that e should
ind hepoliticians'machinations
ranspar-
entwhilethe ndian
public
s duped.For instance,
fter escribing
particularly
absurd llegation
eported
n
the
partisan ress
n ndia,he explains
hat it s
likely
that
Muslims]
would
have
been
so
enraged by
his
llegation]
hat hey
wouldnot
have seen through
he evident
use
nvolved
n thiskind
of
reporting,
hichhas
Goebbelsian
ualities."25
usan
L.
Woodward, qually
hocked
t
mass
acquies-
cence to themachinationsf national lites, laimsthey ngaged uccessfullyn
"psychological
arfare."26
One
class of answers
o this
uzzleproposes
hat nnate
r
earned
sychological
bias eads
membersf thnic roups
odiscount r gnore
heir
wn
eader's nvolve-
mentnproducing
thnic onflict,
o
that
heOther akes ll
the
lame.
or nstance,
following ajfel's
social identityheory,"
f
people
have
an innate esire
or
elf-
esteem,
hen
hey
may
be
irrationally
eluctanto
believe
hat
members
f
their wn
group,
nd
especially
heir
eadership,
ouldbe
responsible
or
eprehensible
cts.27
Anotheret fpossible nswers roposeshatsymmetricnformationllows eaders
to
manipulate
heirmore-or-lessational)
ollowers' eliefs.
or
nstance,
ui J.P.
de
Figueiredo,
r.,
nd
Barry
R.
Weingast
bserve
hat
ven
f
people
do
not
know
which
ide to blamefor
hefailure
f
constitutionalegotiations,
n ethnic
iot,
r
incident
f ethnic iolence, hey
o know
hat
ne
or both
ides re
to
blame.
Thus,
observingny
uch vent
hould ead
them
ationally
o ncrease
heir
elief
hat he
other
roup
r ts eaders
may
e
dangerous
r
at
fault,
ven
f t
happens
n this ase
that
heir
wn
eadership rovoked
he onflict.
f an ethnic
ublic
s
very
cared f
what
might appen
f
the other
roup
harbors
ggressive
ntentions,
his
may
be
enough or hemo ncrease heirupportfthe ncumbents a defensive ove.28
24.
Nor
are
they
well
answered
n
the
nternational
elations
iterature
n
diversionaryar,
but
see
Downs
ndRocke
1994;
Hess
and
Orphanides
995;
and
Smith
996.
25. Brass1997,
142.
26. Woodward
995,
28.
27.
Tajfel
1978.
The
astonishing
enials ncountered
rom osnian
erbs
onfrontedith
vidence f
the rebrenica
assacres
may
e
a
good
example
f
thismechanismt
work.
28. De
Figueiredo
nd
Weingast
999.
By
this
rgument,
uspicions
hat
heir
wn
eadership
s
trying
to
manipulate
hem hould lso
gain urrency
n
seeing
n
event
ike
his.
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Violence ndEthnicdentityonstruction 55
More
broadly,olitical
eaders
sually
avebetternformationbout
whetheron-
flictwith nother roup s thebestcourse f action t a particularime. ollowers
thus ace classical gency roblem,ne consequence fwhichmaybe that eaders
can
temporarily?)
ncrease
upport yexploiting
he rust
hey avedevelopedwith
followers.
A third ossibilitys that eaders re not o muchdeceiving ollowerss taking
advantage
f
constitutionalndothernstitutionalules ndnorms hat llow hem o
centralizer
rrogateower
f
hey
an claim hat he
roup
aces
security
hreat.
n
other
ords,
thnic iolence
may
be
provokedimply
o
egitimize coup
d'etat.
y
fomentingiolencewith n out-grouphe eaders fthe n-group aybe able to "tie
the
hands"
ftheir o-ethnics.n-groupeaders ncrease heir o-ethnics'emand or
protectionromhe ut-groupndatthe ame imemake ure heresno alternative
set
of
eaders o
protect
hem. o some
xtenthe
Hutu
eadership
n
Rwanda nd he
Serbian
eadership
n
Yugoslavia mployed
uch actics.29
A fourthnswermight e developed s a more onstructivistariantn the sycho-
logicalbias approach oted arlier: eoplemaybe so totally linded y a discourse
of
ethnicity
nd
ethnic
elations hat
t
determinesow
they
raw
nferences
rom
data n ethnic elations. he accounts
yBrass, runier,ndKapfererll suggest his
possibility
t
times.
Finally, bserversmay be concluding oo quickly hat opular nvolvement
n
"ethnic iolence" nd upportor xtremisteaders s motivatedna straightforward
fashion y underlying
thnic nimositiesnd fears. n someof
his essays particu-
larly
n
the hapterntitledTheft
f an
dol"), Brass
hints t
a possible esponse r
resolution
f
he
uzzle long
hese ines.He
suggests
hat he
rdinary
olk nvolved
in
"communal iolence" re
n
fact
pursuing
heir wn diverse
gendas hatmay
have ittle
o
do with ommunal
ntipathieser
e. When
politiciansnterpret
ocal
disputes
n an
ethnic
rame,hey
re
merely iving eople
he icense o
pursue
heir
own
agendas
nder hebanner f "communal onflict." hisvaluable
uggestion
s
taken p ater; vidence or tappearsnseveral fthe asestudies. hemechanism
also
appears
n
mportant
ecent tudies n civilwar.For
example,
tathis
alyvas
argues
hatmuch iolence n civilwars s
produced y
ocalswho nlist
upport
rom
the
government
rrebels o
pursue
ocal
grudges
ndfeuds.30
Strategic
ction "on the
ground."
The individuals
ho constructthnic
denti-
tiesneednot e political rother lites.
A
persistentntuitionnconstructivistriting
is that ocial dentitiesre
produced
nd
reproducedhrough
he
verydayctions f
ordinaryolk,
hat
s,
"on
the
ground."
ndividualshink fthemselvesn terms f a
particularetof socialcategories, hicheadthem oact nwaysthat ollectively
29.
In
"security
ilemma"
xplanations
or
thnic
iolence,
osen
ndHardin
rgue
hatwhen cen-
tral
uthorityollapses
thnic iolence
may
ccur
s individualsoalesce
long
thnicines
o
seek self-
protection.
osen
1993
and
Hardin 995.These
rguments
reat he
ollapse
f
government
s
exogenous
and
thus
annot
ddress
he
uestion
f
why
ollowers
ollow eaderswho
deliberatelyring
n "anar-
chy."
The
argument
n
our ext
as
eaders
reating anarchy"
ecause
hey
now hat ollowers illbe
unable o coordinaten differenteaders
nd
thus
willhaveto
support
he nes
responsible
or he
prob-
lems.
30.
Kalyvas
1999.
See also
Bax
1997;
ndStoll
1999.
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856 Internationalrganization
confirm,einforce,ndpropagatehese dentities.31embers fmarginalizedatego-
ries,
r
ndividual issidents, ay uietly ubvertr oudly ontestommon ssump-
tions bout articularategories. heir ctionsmay hen esultn the onstructionf
new or altered dentities, hich hemselveshange ultural oundaries. ffortso
change oundaries ay ead to violent trategiesythosewhohave n nterestn the
previouslyccepted oundaries.While
recent
ccounts f popular nvolvement
n
ethnic iolence
avefocused
n
security
ears f
ndividuals-themotivationo
kill
one's neighborsefore eingkilled ythem32-here e willelaborate n a comple-
mentaryonstructivistccount.
As
a
first ut,
t
is useful o point ut that thnic roups ave morepermeable
boundaries han tates.33 ith onsiderable
uccess,
tates
n
themodern ra con-
structnd police definiteerritorialorders.34n contrast,he inesbetween thnic
and national
roups
re ess definitend muchharder o
police,
ince
they
an
be
altered r infringedponby assimilationnd other verydaycts that lur r call
boundaries
nto
uestion.
n
a seminal
ssay,
rederik
arth
rgued
hat
thnicity
s
defined ot
by
the
ultural
haracteristicsf
groupmembers utby
thedifferences
thoughto distinguishhem rom thers.35
n
a more ulturalistpproach,William
H.
Sewell,Jr., mphasizes
he
mpossibility
f
approaching
ultural
niformity,
ven
under otalitarianonditions.
ultural ractice
or
ewell
s less that f
celebrating
uniformitymong
membersf
group
han f
organizing
ifferences
etween roups.
Sewell's rgumentmplieshatwhen oundariesreunder hreat-forxample, hen
a
subgroup rganizes
o assert ts differencerom he
arger roup
n
which t had
been
part-those
who dentifiedith he nclusive
roup
re
ikely
o
oppose epa-
ration,
vento
the xtent
f
threateningiolent epercussions.attles verwhether
groups n theboundaries re the
ame as
those
n
thecore,
or
culturallyifferent
from
hem,
refor
ewell
normal
spect
fcultural
ractice.36
Such battles ave the
potential
orviolence.
n
Basque country,igh
evels
of
assimilation
y
a
regionalminority
nto he
ulture
f the entral tate
thereby
x-
pandingheboundaryfthe ocialcategory Spaniard" o nclude asques)threat-
ened
he
nterestsfthose
eeking olitical eparation.
ssimilation
trategies
n the
ground
ed
Basque separatists
o
provoke
he
enter's
olice
nto
punitive
ctions.
The
separatistsoped
ocause
not-yet-assimilatedasques
torevise ownwardheir
hopes
or
eing ccepted y
membersf he ominant
ociety
nd
herebytrengthen
the
rgument
or ecession.
asque separatistsursued
his iolent
action-reaction
31.
A
self-reinforcingystem
f
ocial
categories
anbe
seen s
an
nstance
f cultural
quilibrium,
patternfactions ndbeliefs uch hat he ctionsmake ense are optimal) iven hebeliefs,ndat the
same ime hebeliefs renotdisconfirmed
y
the
attern
f
actions.
or
nstance,
f
A's
and
B's
expect
o
be cheatedn nterethnic
ealings,
twillmake ense
o avoid
nteractions
ndto
try
o cheat n
those hat
occur,
hus
eproducing
he eliefs hatmake he ctions
ptimal.
or
examples
fcultural
quilibria,
ee
Laitin
998;
Mackie
1996;
andFearon
nd
Laitin
996.
32.
For
xample, ee
Posen
1993.
33.
Internationalelations
heorists,
uch s
Posen,
ind
tuseful o
gnore
his istinction.osen 1993.
See also
Hardin,
ho
portrays
thnic
roups
s well-delineatedteams."Hardin 995.
34. See Lustick
993;
nd
Sahlins 989.
35. Barth
969,
17.
36.
Sewell 1999.
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Violence ndEthnicdentityonstruction 57
cycle," s they escribed he trategy,or generation.37n such ases, ethnic io-
lence s a consequence fthe mbiguitynduncertaintyfthe oundaries elimiting
ethnic ategories.temerges rom eactions y elites o effortsy ordinaryeople
that hreatenoredefineocialboundaries.38
The permeabilityf boundaries an lead to violencenot only as a reaction o
potential
defection"
ut also as a strategyy marginalmembers o gain greater
acceptance
n
some
valued ategory. ereviolence s usedagainst resumedutsid-
ers
by
ndividualsf
marginaltatusn thegroup. xplanationsor iolence n these
cases typically roceed s follows:marginalmembers f groupA internalizehe
belief hatA's are superioro B's. Theymay hen ttackmembers f B in order o
prove o themselves
r to
others ecurely
n A
that hey re ndeedmembers.39his
mechanism ight e described s a strategyor aining cceptancen a valued at-
egory y out-Herodingerod with heAustrian alf-Jew itler s thenotorious
example).
Evidence on Identity Construction and Ethnic Violence
Is
ethnic
iolence result f processes
f
ethnic dentityonstruction?hese case
studies f
arge-scale
thnic iolence ndBrass'svolume n
episodes
fviolence t
the ocal evelprovidevidence osupportour esponsesothis uestion. irst,he
books ontain
mple
vidence
ejecting
he
rimordialist
heses hat
thnic
dentities
are
socially
r
genetically
ixed nd
unchanging,
nd that
thnic iolence esults
from
eceived,
mmutableultural ifferences.
econd,
he vidence or he
roposi-
tion hat iscourses
f
ethnicity
onstructdentities
n
ways
hat
ispose
ndividuals
toviolent onflicts atbest
mbiguous ere, lthough
he exts
nder eview rovide
some
grounds
or uch a
reading. hird,
hecases contain
onsiderable vidence
suggesting
hat
olitical
lites se violence
oconstruct
ntagonistic
thnic
dentities,
which
n
turn avormore
violence,
with
nterestinguggestions
bout
why
masses
would ollow. ourth,heres evidence hathe onstructionfeverydayrimordial-
ismfrom
n-the-ground
nteractions
an ead to ntra-nd
ntergroup
iolence.
Against
rimordialism
There s no evidence
n
these ooks
feither
enetically
ixed r
unchanging
ultural
values,
s
primordialists
ould
xpect.
o
varying egrees,
ll
the uthors
re con-
37. Laitin 995.
38. For similarxamples,eeGanguly 997, 5.Ganguly uggestshat ikhrevivalismn ndiagrew
out
of conservativeikhs'fears hat
young,wealthy,
rbanized ikhs
had
sought
o shear ff he
rap-
pings
f
their
aith," einvigorating
oncern hat
they
ould well become
bsorbed
within heHindu
fold."He makes
parallel rgumentegarding
conomicmodernization
nd
the
pread
fMuslim
unda-
mentalism
n
Kashniir.
39.
Chauncey,
or
xample, xplains
iolent ttacks
gainst
omosexuals
n
the irst
alf f his
entury
in
ust
these erms:
Newly
confined o
indoor,
ffice
obs
and under he
thumb f
giant orporations,
middle-class
men's sense
of
masculinity
as
in
question boundary ncertainty).heyresponded,
c-
cording
o
Chauncey, y hifting
he
onceptual
cheme
rom division asedon
masculine
ersus emi-
ninebehavior o
one
based
on
preference
n
sex
partnershomosexual/heterosexual)
nd
condoning
t-
tacks
n those
n
the ther ideofthenew
boundary.hauncey 994,
116.
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858 Internationalrganization
structivists.runiermakes hemost nsistentase for constructivistosition. e
shows hat he abels "Tutsi" and "Hutu"
n
Rwandahad primarily class rather
than nethnicmeaningnprecolonialimes,ndnotes esearchuggestingporous
boundaryeparatinghem. urthermore,e shows hat hese thnicabelsare n the
present olitical
ense
thats,thenotion
f
foreignonquering aster aceover n
oppressed easant ociety) historical
iction
nvented y racialist uropeans nd
taken ver
y
ocal
political ntrepreneurseekingobs andpower, ndespecially y
Tutsi oliticians housedthe olonial deology s a means f materialndpsycho-
logical aggrandizement.he rigiddichotomy etweenHutu and Tutsiwas con-
structed
ycolonial
uthoritiesn
collaboration ith wandan lites
nd
hardeneds
a result f
political
onflict.
Similarly, oodwardnsistshat hehighly oliticizedontentsehindMuslim,"
"Serb,"
and "Croat"
n
theBalkans n the
1990s
are a result f the conomic ol-
lapse nd he reakdownf heYugoslav tate atherhan he ther ay round. ohn
McGarry
nd
Brendan
'Learygive
no
stock o
arguments
bout
iolence n
North-
ern
reland hat
rebuilt
pon
nheritedultural ifference.
heypoint
utthat
he
socialcontent
fthe
ategories
Protestant"
nd
"Catholic"
n
Northernreland as
changed
o
vastly
ver thecenturieshat
t
wouldbe hard o
find
set of
long-
standing
ultural ifferenceshat
eparate
he wo
populations.40
hile he ontentf
nationaldentitiess
in
flux,McGarry
nd
O'Leary
how
hat he
oundaries
that s,
the riteriaefining embership)fthegroupsre ong-standingndunquestioned.
Deng equivocates
omeon this ssue.He insists hat ertain
ategories
re
objective
andnatural. espite he
ocial
construction
f a
northernudanese Arab" dentity,
these
eople
re
really
fricans ho ssimilated
ntoArab
ulture. heir onstructed
Arab
dentity
erves o block north-southational
ntegration
n
Sudanthat ould
resolve he
bloody
onflict.
espite
his
nsistencen
objective
riteria
or
Arabness
and
Africanness,eng gives
onsiderable
ttention
o
boundary
reaswhere
orth-
ern nd
southern
dentitiesre n
competition,howing
ow both he
meaning
nd
boundariesf dentitiesresubject ochange.Kapferer,or ll hispostmodernre-
tensions,
nd to the
chagrin
f
many
f
his
critics,
inds
imself
eifying
trans-
historical
inhalese
dentity.
et
Kapferer's
ook
suggests
hat
nder
onditionsf
postcolonialism,ompounded y
economic
ifficulties,
thnic
dentitiesakeon a
stronger
ndmore xclusivisttrain.
herefore,
hereas he thnic
abels re
argely
givenby
descent
part
f the common
nderstanding
f
the
meaning
f "ethnic
group"),
heir
ontentnd
grip
n
ndividuals'
maginations
re
a
functionf social
andhistoricalonditions.
Furthermore,
o
the xtenthat
strong rimordialistosition
urns n the ncom-
patibilityfculturess the ource or iolence,heres no evidence or uch posi-
tion
n
the
books
under eview. our
of the studies
thoseby Brass,Woodward,
Prunier,
nd
Kapferer)
o not ven ddress
he ssue of
theviolent
otential
f cul-
tural ifference.
eng
is
explicit
n
rejecting
heclaim
that
bjective
measures f
cultural istance
matter. e
opens
his discussion
with he laim hat the ource f
conflict
ays
not
o much
n
themere act
f
differencess
in
the
egree
o
which he
40.
McGarry
nd
O'Leary 1995,
50.
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Violence ndEthnicdentityonstruction 59
interactingdentitiesnd their verridingoals are mutuallyccommodatingr n-
compatible.
n
the ontextf he
nation-state,onflict
f
dentitiesccurswhen roups
... rebel gainstwhat hey ee as intolerableppression y thedominant
roup."41
Muchofhisbook shows hat
bjectivelyand despite orthernmaginings)he ul-
tures fnorth
nd outh re loser han lite haracterizationsf hose ultures. o be
sure, eng,
n
suggesting
n
amelioratingolicy,writes:
If
Northernersalue the
unity f
their ation
bove
their
elf-delusionhat hey re Arabs,"peace
in
the
context f a united
udan
couldbe
attained. he cultural elief hat hey reArabs,
and
thereby
asters f
Africans, eng maintains,ustains
he
ivilwar.Here, ul-
tural
eliefs
re
constructed
n
antagonistic ays houghhey eednotbe, giving o
support
o the iew hat
bjective ultural
ifferences
mply iolence.42
McGarryndO'Learyattack he ultural istancergumentead on.They on-
sider
hepossibility
hat he
warring ods"
ofCatholics nd
Protestantslay role
in
leading
heir
dherents
nto ommunal arfare.
ndeed,
s
the uthors
oint ut,
Northernreland s
more
religious"
n
terms f church ttendancehanmost ther
European ocieties,
nd theres
a
high
orrelationetween
eligious
ffiliation
nd
voting.Many
f
the xtremistsfor nstance,an Paisley)
re
religious ealots. rom
these
points
numerous
bservers
nterpret
he Northernreland
onflict
s a war
between
ncompatibleeligions.
McGarry
nd
O'Leary, owever,
emolishhe
laim
hat
eligious
ifferencesause
the ommunal iolence. hey how hat
1. violence idnot ecede s the
ociety lowly
ut
monotonically
ecamemore
secular;
2.
cross-sectionally,here
as
more iolence
n
citieswhere eligiositys lower
than
n
villageswhere t s higher;
3. since
1969
there adbeen fair mount f nterchurch
ooperation
s vio-
lence
xpanded;
4. all ofthemajor artiesrparamilitariesamed hemselvesnterms f secular
criteria
nationalism,nionism),
ot
eligious riteria,nd,
n
fact,
the
politi-
cal
language
fboth
rotagonistsppeals
o the
discourses
f
nationalism,
he
principles
f self-determination
nd
democratic
ajoritarianism,
deas
which
are,
n
principle,
nd
n
practice,
etached
rom
eligious orld-views";
5. violencewas not
at east,
t
the ime hebookwas
written)
irected
gainst
religious
cons.
Loyalists
adnot ouched atholic
hurches,
nd
no Catholic
priests
adbeenkilled
y
a
loyalist unman,
ven
hough riests
alk he
streetsnd
provide asytargets;
6.
respondents
n
Northernreland ttributedhe ausesof the onflicto
politi-
callconstitutional
ources
ar
more han
hey
idto
religious
ifferences.
"Even
oyalist aramilitaries,"cGarry
nd
O'Learyreport,say they
re
happy
o
accommodate atholics
f
nd
when
hey ccept
he
Union";
41.
Deng 1995,
1.
42.
Ibid.,
2.
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860 Internationalrganization
7. endogamys more he esult fneighborhoodegregationhan hepolicies f
religious rganizations.
While rimordialistsight ant oclaim hat eligions not xhaustivefcultural
difference
n
the ase of
Northern
reland,McGarry
nd
O'Leary ertainly
how hat
the
ultural
ifferencehat efines he ontentfthe thnic ivide annot e directly
linked othe ommunaliolence.43
The absenceof any mention f cultural istancenfour f thestudies, sharp
refutationf
the
hesis
n
the ifth,nda
full
xegesis
n
why ultural istance
s
not
driving
iolence
n
the ixth
ead
us to
reject
his ariable
s
a
powerful
actor
xplain-
ing
violent
thnic
onflict.n
fact,
he
esson
f
hese ooks, onsistent ith onstruc-
tivist heory,s thatwe cannot ssume hat ny fthe ountriesxamined ontained,
prior o theviolentonflict,deeply iven" roupswith undamentallyincompat-
iblevalues."These tudies ontainittle o supportheview hat he ulturalontent
ofethnic ifferences
y
tself ostersthnic iolence.
Discourse nd Violence
Discourse pproaches, favoredmethodologicalool of constructivists,re poten-
tially
n
tensionwith
principal
laim
of
constructivist
heory,
hat
eople
are
not
bornmprisonedytheir ultures.nfact, nlyKapferermong he uthors hose
work
s
under eview ustains
n
argument
n
favor
f
a cultural iscourse s a
powerful
nd
unchanging
ocial
force. The
fury
f the
anti-Tamil]
iotswas
de-
monic"he tellshis
reader,eadingKapferer
o examine heriots rom he
point
f
viewof
Sinhala
orcery
emons.
mong
he
inhala,myths
f
Vijaya the ounding
and
unruly rince
f
the
Sinhalapeople,
he
offspring
f
a lion
and an
Indian
rin-
cess,yet
e became
righteousing)
nd
of
Dutugemunuwho
reestablished
inhala
mastery,verpoweringhe
Tamil
king, lara) are,Kapfererxplains, reated
s his-
torical
act, eproduced
n
school
exts,
ndrecur s
images
n
contemporary
thnic
warfare.44npublicpamphletsncitingranalyzingheviolence, he "events"of
these
mythologicaligures'
areers re enumerated
s
part
f the
xplanation.
ven
leading cholars,iving broad,
re
admonished
ocally
for
ack
of
correspondence
between
heir laims nd
Sinhala
myths.
overnmentfficialsnfuse heir hetoric
with hese
egends,
nd "their udience
s
culturallyrepared
or hese eferences."45
Government
inisters ax about hese
egends
n
the
eriod
f
heightenedeligious
activity
n the
nnual
alendar,
nown
s
Asala. The
worst
iots
f
1977, 1981,
nd
1983
coincided
with
his
eriod.
Popular xorcism ites
re
part
f this
mythical
niverse.n the
exorcism,
he
"patient" egains ealthn a cosmic egenerationhat arallelshe process fhier-
archical
egeneration"
ound
n
the
myths
fthe tate.
n
"the
Suniyama,
he
person
is reborn,econstituted,rom hewomb
f the
tate quite iterally,
s
theperson
s
put
nto n
actualmodel f
a state
tructure],
state ebuilts an ordered
ierarchy."
43.
McGarry
nd
O'Leary 1995,
189-213.
44.
Kapferer988,
4-35.
45.
Ibid., 8-39.
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Violence
ndEthnic
dentityonstruction 61
Kapferer
oints o parallels
ere n the egends f Vijaya
and
Dutugemunu.Their
violence, s
the violent
metaphorsnd acts
of
the
Suniyama ite, s
an
ordering
violence ngaged o the ormationrreformationfthewholeness ndhealth fthe
state.... Violence s appropriaten
the
xpungingf vil, n evilwhich y
definition
defies he nified
rder fthe
Buddhisttate."46
Kapferernsists
hat
oliticians re not manipulatinghe
masses,but
share n
ontological
round ith hem.
hus,
President
ayawardenen
becoming resident
(as opposed o a
primeminister,s in theolder
onstitution)xclaimed:
We have
had
an
unbrokenineof monarchs rom
ijayato Elizabeth
I
for ver
2,500 years
... andnow
myself,
he 06th
ead
of
state
rom
ijaya
n
unbrokenine."47n that
same speech,he referredo the
"wicked nd
corrupt" ing, Hindu,whose
reign
ended nrebellionySinhaleseords. hisspeech ndmany thersely nimages
frommythso
portrayamils
s
foreign,s
evil,
nd s
naturalubjects or iolence.
Further,
n
public ronouncements
fthe
ommanderf the ri Lankan
rmy
nd
in
admonitionsf
a leading
riestthat
e "woulddeal with ll
enemy
orces n
the
country
ith he
blessings
f
the
Triple
Gem
and
all the
protective
eities
f Sri
Lanka") the
mythsf tate renaturalizednto
dvocacy or
resent olicy.
n
popu-
lar cartoons
ayawardeneas
depicted s requiringxorcism
o that e
might
re-
store he
ncompassing
quanimity
f
an
ordered
ierarchy."his
sharing
f
myths
between lites nd
masses
resents
he dreadful
nd
violent
ossibility"
hat
eaders
andmasseswillfollow he "inner ogic" oftheir prereflective"ntology. iven
this
ontology,inhalese
will
take
any
opposition
o the state
s
threateninghem
personally.
Here
s
a
reason,
xtraordinary
s it
may
eem,
or he
udden,
lmost
inexplicable,
ransformationf a
normallyeaceful eople nto iolent nd
murder-
ously
rampaging
obs.... The
rioting
..
may
be likened
o
a
gigantic
xorcism.
Tamils,
he
gents
f
evil,
etto
break he
overarchingnity
f
the inhalese
tate,
are
rooted ut.
.
.
By
so
doing the
inhalese] esubordinatend
reincorporate
he
Tamil
demon
n
hierarchy."48
What o we make fthis rgument?tanley ambiah,mong numberfschol-
ars
who melled
rimordialism
n
t,
ook
xception.
apferer,
e
argues,
s
ahistori-
cal
as
he "makes
a
leap
from
cosmology
nferredrom
sixth-centuryytho-
historicalext ..
to
another
osmology
e
infers rom
resent-day
emon
ituals.
Does
a
possible omology etween he wo
osmologies
mean
continuity
n
histori-
cal
consciousness rom he sixth o the
twentieth
entury?"
ittle ffort
s
made,
Tambiah mphasizes,o
analyze he
hanging
ahavamsa
orpus,
hichwas
rewrit-
ten
everal
imes
ver he
enturies,
o see
f
his
ontinuity
s
being
ransmittedver
time.As we
suggested
arlier, rguments
hat
elyupon
discursive
ormationshat
havetheir wn ogicandagency end oportrayulturen a waythat ordersn
primordialism,
n
that
eople
re
ontinually
ade ndremade
y
discourseshat re
essential
roperties
fethnic
roups.49
46.
Ibid.,
8-79.
47. Ibid., 5-87.
48.
Ibid.,
100-101.
49.
Tambiah
992,
171.
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862 Internationalrganization
Does Kapferer eed o treat inhalese iscourse n ethnicdentitys an unchang-
ingmonolithhat utomaticallyeterminesopular erceptionsndresponses hen
danger s alleged?Could he instead rgue hat orwhatever easons, n theearly
1980s his imply as a powerfuliscourse hat haped inhalese elf-understanding
and conditionedheactions f
both eaders nd followers
n
thedirection f vio-
lence?He had the pportunityo profferuch n argument,incehalf hebookcon-
cerns tate deology
n
Australia here hemythsf tate o not mpelwhite ustra-
lians to massacre he boriginal opulation. ut thebook merelyuxtaposes hese
cases ratherhan
omparing
hem
o
account
or hedifferentutcomes. s a result,
Kapferer oes not nvestigate ow violent iscourses re sustained r identifyhe
conditionsnderwhich tate iscoursesurn
opulationsiolentlygainst
he thnic
other.
Prunier oes seek suchan explanation.or themostparthe avoidsthe mplicit
primordialism
f
Kapferer,ttending
ore
arefully
o the reation fthe
discourse
in
thecolonialperiod nd ts evolution ith hanging ircumstances.runier uts
great tress n thediscourse f Tutsi acial uperiorityhat eveloped
n
Rwanda's
colonial
years.
his
portrayed
heTutsi s a distinctace of aristocratic
onquerors
whohadcome
originally
rom ar
way perhaps
ven
Tibet )
ndwerenatural ulers
over he
ood-natured
ut nferiorutus.
n
a subtle
nalysis,
e showshow heHutu
"democratic evolution"
f
1959
did not
fundamentallyeject
his
deology,
ut
"merelynvertedts ign. utsiwere tillforeignnvaders' hohadcomefromfar,
butnow thismeant hat
hey
ouldnot
really
e considereds citizens." he Hutu
were"the
only egitimate
nhabitantsf the
ountry,"
nd "a Hutu-controlled
ov-
ernment as now not
onlyautomaticallyegitimate
ut also
ontologically
emo-
cratic."50 runiermeans hat he uthoritariantate
n
Rwanda ationalizedtself s
"democratic" n the
argument
hat
democracy quals
rule
by
Hutus
the
demo-
graphicmajority),
hich
quals
exclusion f Tutsis rom
olitical ower.
hus not
only
did the
colonial
discourse reate an
aggressively
esentful
nferiority
om-
plex" among heHutubut n this "inverted" orm tssystemfthought ainted
Tutsis s evil
foreigners
ho
might
t
any
time eek to
reimpose
heir
yrannical,
"feudalist" ule.51
his,
Prunier
uggests,
as an invaluable esource or
heHutu
elites
ontrolling
he tate. aced with n invasion ed
by
the
rmy epresenting
he
Rwandan atriotic
ront,
he
predominantly
utsi
party
mobilized
n
exile,
Hutu
elites
ould
use
widespread cceptance
f the "democratic
deology"
o
publicly
rationalize hatwas
n
fact
coup
to avoid
haring ower mainly
ithHutus rom
another
egion).52
n
addition,
e
argues
hat he
deology
nd ts ffects
rethemost
important
actors
xplaining
utu
peasants' articipation
n
the
genocide. lthough
Prunier itesmany actors-desire or and andcattle, strong ierarchicalom-
mand tructure
n
which
onparticipation
ouldmean
eath,
nd
imple easantgno-
50. Prunier
995,
0.
51.
Ibid.,
.
52. In contrasto
Kapferer,
runier
onsistentlyxplains
he
ction
f
political
lites n terms f ma-
terial nd
power-seekingotivations,
ot
deology-for xample, runier,
41.The
only xception
ould
be
"extremist
deologues,"
who Prunier
ccasionally uggests
re
ust wrapped p
in
the
Rwandan is-
torical
mythology.
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Violence ndEthnic
dentity
onstruction 63
rance ndcredulityfgovernmentronouncements-inhe ndhe says hat greed
was notthemainmotivation.t was belief nd obedience-belief n a deeply m-
bibed deology."53
Whereas
n
Kapferer's iewdiscourse prereflectively"criptshe ctions fboth
elites ndfollowers,
n
Prunier's iew discourses invoked s a resource or ower-
and
wealth-seekingoliticians
o
ustify ourses
f
action
n a
wayplausible o fol-
lowers, nd
a
source
f
ong-standing,eneral sychological ispositionssuch as
resentment,rrogance,nd uspicion)
with
egard
o
ethnic thers.
With
o theoreti-
cal
axe togrind, runier's arrativeeamlessly
eaves
ogetherationalistndividual-
based analysis nd a more iscursiveonstructivistpproach hat tresses his deo-
logical construct. he result s compelling, lthoughwe remain uzzled by two
problems egardingowthe iscursiveystem iguresnthe xplanation.hesegen-
eral
puzzles pply quallywell
to
Kapferer's
ook.
First, iscursive r cultural ystems
t
best create disposition
or
arge-scale
violence, ince they re relativelynduringtructures
hile
violence s episodic.
Thus, estinghehypothesishat omecultural iscourses avor thnic iolence e-
quires
hatwe can code discourses s more r
ess
nherentlyiolence-prone
cross
cases.
Kapferer
ndPrunier ust elieve his s
possible. hey rgue
hat he inha-
lese
and
Rwandan iscursive ystems ontain
ntrinsiceatureshat
ispose
hose
bound
p
n
them
o
violence
n
particularircumstances.
ut
there
reboth
mpiri-
cal andtheoreticaluestionsboutwhetheruch cross-sectionalrojectould uc-
ceed.
Empirically,
e
notice
hat n none f the ther our ooksunder eview oes
the uthor
ut ny
tress n a
specific
ultural iscourse
reating disposition
oward
ethnic iolence. t
best, eng,McGarry
nd
Leary,Woodward,
ndBrassreference
the
ffects
f
thevery eneralmodern
iscourse n
ethnicity
ndnationalism.s we
have
noted,
his iscourses too
widespread
o
explain
ariation
n
evels fviolence
across
ases.
Granted,
his
ample
s small nd
perhaps
ifferentuthors ould
lace
greater mphasis n discursive ystems
n
these ases. But theevidence
we
have
does notaugurwellfor project hatwouldsystematicallyode forpresence r
absence
fa
violence-prone
iscourse
n
both
igh
nd
ow
violence
ases.54
Second,
ndmore
undamentally,
t s hard o see how a structure
s
complicated,
rich,
nd multivalents Sinhalese
mythology
r even Rwandan
olitical deology
can
be
reliably
eemed o be
inherentlyrone
o
violence. his
observation
oses
a
theoretical
roblem
or hecross-sectional
mpirical rojectust noted,
ut
t also
raises difficult
uestion
bout he
mechanism
y
which iscursive
ystems ring
about ctions.
f
discourses
re
typicallyomplex nough
o
ustifymany
ourses f
action,
hen ow an
they
etermine
he
ctions
f hosewho reheld
n
their
rip?
f
theRwandan oliticalmythologyouldbe used to ustify range factions rom
genocide
o the
peaceful olitical
xclusion
ut
conomic
nclusion
f
Tutsis
n
the
1970s
nd
1980s
to imited
olitical ncorporationthe
Hutumoderates' iew
n
the
53. Prunier
995,
48.
54. Note hat runier's
ingle-case esign
annot stablish hat hediscourse e focuses
n mattersn
general
or
roducing
thnic iolence ecause
he does not
ample
ow violence
ases
to
ask if similar
discourses re
typically
bsent.
apferer
oes
with
Australia,
ut s
mentioned,
e does not ake dvan-
tage
f
his
design
o
test
isdiscourse
pproach.
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864 Internationalrganization
early 990s),
hen
houldwe notbe asking bout hemotivationsnd ncentivesf
thosemost
esponsible
or he
framing?
f this
mythology erelymademass vio-
lencea thinkablepossibility" n thepart f Hutus, an we identifyiscourses f
ethnicity
n
other ases that nambiguouslyontain o suchpossibilities?
In
contrasto Kapferernd Prunier, rass dentifies diverse et of competing
discourses. uttheres little nalysis fthe ulturalontentfthese iscourses. or
does he
see
them s
independentorces etermininghe ctions hat roduce ollec-
tive
violence
n
ndia. nstead, orBrass, discourses a setof argumentsmployed
by
ome
ctors
n
ustifying
heir ctions ra
policy
hats
pursued
or ther easons.
Lurking ehind uchdiscourses s "criminalaw and order," caste and commu-
nity," faith nd entiment,"profit,"nd"Hindu-Muslimommunalism"s a nexus
ofpower nd nteresthat oolsboth illagersndoutside nalysts. onsistent ith
this oucauldian heme, rass nsists hat he iscourse fHindu-Muslimommunal-
ism
to choose but one)
"operate[s]
ervasively
n
northndia
as a
cover
for
he
political mbitionsf elites nd as a smokescreeno draw ttentionwayfrom he
consequences
or ts
people
of the
policies
f the
modernndian
tate
nd
ts ead-
ers."55 e
later
sksus
to
"consider
.
. thediscourse
ffaith
nd entiment
nd
the
interestserved y thosewho proclaim ts reality."
t
benefits,
rass
argues, ocal
politicians
ho
want
o
supplant
he
dominanttatediscourse
f
secularism. he
villagers uy
nto t
for hort-termdvantage,
ut
ltimatelyhey
ose
out, s they et
beaten ythepolice ndexploited ythe ocal politicians.56hose nauthorityen-
efit rom he iscourses
hey erpetuateimplicating
s
well
cholars ho
reifyhem)
in that
he
favored
iscourses substitute
. .
popular alues,
which re
said
to be
deplorable
ut ntrenched
n
the
ives
ofthe
eople,
or ndividual
esponsibility
nd
culpability
n
acts f
wrongdoing.
t
diverts lame rom
he
oliticians
or
nstigating
violence etween ommunitiesr
between he
police
and
villagers."57
sed
in
this
way,
iscourses
re
more
trategies
han
upra-individual
orceswith heir wn nter-
nal
ogics
hat etermine
ctions
ndevents.
Elites,Violence,
nd Social Construction
In three f
the ix
booksunder
eview,
he
uthors
xplain
heonset f
arge-scale
ethnic
iolence s a direct esult
f
eliteefforts
o retain r
grabpolitical ower
(Prunier,eng,Woodward).58
n a
fourth,
rass
puts
he
pportunism
felite
politi-
cians
at thecenter f his
explanation
or hemaintenancef communal
riot
ys-
tems"
n
India.
Whatoccasions
uch
elite
actions,
nd
what f
anything
oes
the
socialconstructionf
ethnicity
ave o
do
with hem?
Inthe hree learestases, he eader'smotivationo"play he thnic ard" merges
out
of
political ighting
ithin
he
eader's
thnic
roup
etween thnic xtremists
55. Brass
1997,
6.
56.
Ibid.,
67.
57.
Ibid.,
3.
58.
Kapferer
akes his
rgument
n
ess
specific erms,uggesting
hat
wealthy
inhalese
liteshave
fomentedonflictnd violence
with
he
Tamils s a
diversionary
actic
o
dampen
lass conflict ith
poorer
inhalese.
apferer988,
102.
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Violence ndEthnic dentity
onstruction 65
andmoderates.xtremist
roups r eadersmay se violence s a strategyoforce
r
inducemoderates o increase heir upport orextremism
as in Yugoslavia
nd
Rwanda).Or threatso a moderateeader'spowerbase within is own groupmay
lead him oprovoke iolence
n order o gain he upportf xtremistsrthe roader
public as in Sudan, ugoslavia
o an extent,nd ome
ofBrass's ases n ndia).
The
constructionf
ethnicityan be involved n
theseprocesses n at leasttwo
ways.
Most
simply,
heprovocationf violence yelites an constructroups
n a
more ntagonistic anner-thats, alter he ocial
contentssociatedwith eing
member
f
each category-and
n turn et n motion
spiral fvengeance. econd,
extremistsho
provoke
iolence rpushmoremoderate
eaders o do so often ish
to "purify"heir ulture,o sharply elineatedentity
oundarieshat veryday
nter-
action ndmoderates'oliticalgendas hreateno blur. hisperspectivelignswith
the constructivistocuson the plasticityf group
boundaries, hich s we have
argued uggests aths
o violence
hroughntragrouptruggles
o define nd
police
boundaries.
In
Rwanda,
runiernsists hatnterethnicurderrior o
the
enocide
was
only
toolfor he
uling
action
f heHutu lite oavoid nternationalressures
or emoc-
ratizationnd o ustify
n the yesofthe easantswhy xtremistsatherhanmoder-
atesshould
peak
for
Hutu
nterests.59
uchof the
politics
e
analyzes
nvolve he
jockeying
or
ower
mong egionally ased
Hutu
lites
hat
s expressed
s a con-
flict etweenxtremistsnd moderatesn theTutsi uestion. xtremistsryo cast
theTutsis s
purely
vil andtheHutumoderatess their
tooges.
n
1992,
woyears
before he
genocide,
moderate utus
gained
ome
control verthe ense ituation
and
negotiated
cease-fire ith heRwandan atrioticront
RPF, guerrilla
ove-
ment hat
espite
eeking
multiethnic
onstituency,epresented
utsi
nterests)
t
Arusha.60 ut Hutuextremistsed
by
the
president's
ife,AgatheHabyarimana,
began taking
o the streets
gainst
he
ensuing eace
process. he
and her three
brothers
elped
orm he Zero Network" eath
quads,
he nstitutional
recursors
ofthegenocide. fter formalower-sharingeal wassignednJanuary993, nd
the
day
the nternationalommission
n Human
Rights
mission
eft,
he xtremist
Hutus ent
heir
quads
to thenorthwest
egion
where
hey
were
trong,
nd
three
hundred utsiswerekilled
n
six
days
of violence. he n-exile
utsi-led
rmy
hen
broke he
cease-firend marched
crossthe
Ugandan
border oward heRwanda
capital,
with
many
f the soldiers
efying
heir wn
moderate
eadership.
hese
wildcats ngaged
n
counterviolence,caringmany
Hutuswho
escaped
oZaire.
The effects f
these vents n the Hutu moderates nd
Hutu
peasants'
beliefs
closely arallel
e
Figueiredo
nd
Weingast'sxplanation
or
why ublics
ollow."
As Prunier rites,theexact ircumstancesf theRPF attackwerenot lear" and
"doubt bout
heRPF's motives ad
a tremendousffect n the
Hutu
opposition,"
effectivelyplitting
t.61 nable o
assign
lamefor he ailure f
the ease-fire ith
59. Prunier
995,
141.
Relatedly,
motivationor he
genocide
tself
as to
mplicate
utu
easants
n
crimes
hat
would
effectively
ake them
extremists,"
o
"reinforce
roup olidarityhrough
hared
guilt." bid.,
143.
60. On
the
RPF,
ee Prunier 998.
61. Prunier
995,
180.
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866 Internationalrganization
certainty,utumoderatesncreased
heir stimatehat heRPF couldnotbe trusted
in
political egotiations,xactly hat he xtremistsad oughtntheir iolent
ttacks.
The story etsmuchgorier. nticipatinghe ntra-Hutuoup thatwouldresult,
President abyarimanaept ostponinghe ransitiono theArusha-approvedov-
ernment
n
early 994,despite reat
nternationalressure. eanwhile utu xtrem-
istswerewarning fthe onsequences
f giving p power nd stressed heneedfor
"vigilance" a euphemismormurder)
n their adio tation. ta meetingn 6 April
inDar es Salaam,Tanzania,
abyarimana as pressed yhis astAfricanolleagues
to
mplementhe ccords.On his return, ith resident taryamiraf Burundi,he
planewas shotdown s it approached
igali,Rwanda's apital.Who did t s not
known, ut the author easonably
uspects hatHutu extremistsad planned he
genocideftheArusha ccordswere ctuallymplemented.ettingidofthepresi-
dentwas a way orationalizeheir ower
rab ndput nto ction heir inal olution.62
During hegenocide tself,n
addition o theTutsideaths, ome 10,000-30,000
Hutus many f them ntellectuals ithmoderateeanings)were killedby other
Hutus.63 he warbetween xtremist
nd moderate utus ontinuedn therefugee
camps
of
Zaire even after hegenocide. The formereaders
of
the
genocide],"
Prunier ecounts, kept lmost otal
ontrol f their ubjects.Whoever isagreed
with hem
was quicklymurdered,quick
way
to
stop
eturnso
Rwanda."
t s thus
hard o imagine coherentccount f
thegenocide nd thefragilityf all peace
accords hat oes not nalyze owthedivide etweenmoderatendextremistthnic
leaders rove oth nto iolent ctions
gainst he thnic ther.
In
Sri Lanka,
when
President ayawardeneegan negotiating ith heTamils,
Colombo
treet
alk
was rifewith umors hat
he
was
really Muslim,
r
even a
Tamil.Accordingo Kapferer,his s
because
n
the yesofthe xtremistsisregime
was
not
killing nough
Tamils.64
n
order o establish
is
bona
fidesamongSin-
haleseunder uch ircumstances,
e
allowedhis
own
ministers
o organize ogroms
against
nnocent amils. ear of Sinhalese xtremistsatherhan amilsmotivated
Jayawardene.
In
Sudan,
ntra-northerneronflict
xplainswhy
resident
imeiri,
fter e
settled
thewar
against
hesouthern
ebels, nilaterallybrogated
he 1972 AddisAbaba
Agreement,
hichhad set a
framework
or leven
years
f
peace.
In
1983
he
im-
posed
shari'a on
the
ountryy presidential
ecree;
he also divided he outh
nto
three
egions
o
weaken
t. This led
to
a
resumption
f hostilities.
imeiri, eng
argues,
ad
decimated heCommunist
arty
fter
ts
abortive
oup
n
1971.
roni-
cally,
hismeant hat adicalMuslimswere he
nly
ttractive
nti-government
orce
for
young
orthern
niversity
tudents.
hese
radicalMuslims
ormed heMuslim
62.
Gourevitch
onfirmsrunier's
uspicions.
ourevitch995.
However,
heToronto ational ost
reported
n an
alleged
UN
documentn
which
utsi nformantsevealed
hat
PF
eader aul
Kagame
had
ordered
he
ttack. teven
dwards, Explosive"
Leak on Rwanda
Genocide,
oronto ational
ost,
1
March 000. The
allegation
n theUN documents
highlymplausible.
utu
aramilitary
nitsmobilized
and attacked
mmediately
n
the
ftermathf the
ssassination,
hich ouldhave occurred
nly
f
their
extremisteaders
new f
t beforehand.
hateverhe
ruth,
here
an
be no
doubt hatHutu xtremists
took
uick dvantage
f
he ssassination
o discredit utumoderatesnd o
ustify
hemass
murders.
63.
Prunier
995,
65.
64.
Kapferer 988,
100.
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Violence
nd
Ethnicdentityonstruction 67
Brotherhood
nd
becamethe
principal hreat o Nimeiri's ule.Deng's interviews
amongnorthernershow hatNimeiri'smoderate olicy
n
regard o
the outhwas
consonant ith ublic pinion.65et he abandoned hemoderateosition. o some
extent,s Nimeiri elt ecure
hat e couldbreak ny outhernesistance,e was able
to disregardheAddisAbaba
Agreementndcentralize isrule.But
more mportant,
as theMuslim
rotherhoodained trengthnthenorth,specially ith n
extremely
lucrative osition n theFaisal
IslamicBank givenby the Saudis to
theMuslim
Brotherhood,imeiri as compelled o negotiaten hisright lank,nd
to showhis
Islamic olors.He began o
dress n Arabgarb, nd pressed or he hari'a. Those
who
protestedsuch
as
the
ong-time
eaderof the
moderate
Muslim
Republican
Brothers) ere xecuted. ear of his
ownradicals
atherhan
esire
o
slamize he
south roveNimeiri o ntimidatehe outh, riving udan nto ts econd ivilwar.
In
Yugoslavia, hepolitical
ynamics etweenmoderatesnd
extremistsre an
importantart fWoodward's
tory.
n
1987,
he
reports,erbia's
hen
ewpresident
Slobodan
Milosevic,
n
breaking
ith is
former
atron
van
Stambolic,
ade
protec-
tion f
Serbs
n Kosovo
a key ssue.
Like Milan
Kucan,
he
Slovene
party eader,
Milosevic
was
preempting
he
nticommunist
ationalists,
howere
lready rganiz-
ingamong erbs n other epublics. s with he lovene nd Croat
eaders
or
heir
nations, ilosevic
laimed istoric
njustice
or
erbs, mphasizinghepartitionf
Serbia
n the
federationnd economic
olicies
hat
avored
lovenia
nd Croatia.
Once thewarwith roatia egan, ehelped irculate rhetoricfSerbian ictimiza-
tion,
n old theme
f
Serbiannationalists. hile
this
heme s
quite
mplausible,
inasmuchs the
apital
f
Yugoslavia
was n
Serbia,
twas
consistent ith popular
cultural iscourse bout
ictimization
y
heOttomantate nd
by
he itoist
ystem.
The
conflict
etween erbianmoderates
nd
xtremistsas more hastly
n
Croatia's
krajina.
With onditions
orsening,
oicesfor
onciliation
isappeared,
n
part
e-
causeMilan
Babic's
radicals revived heir
ower hrough
elected ssassinationsf
moderateeaders."66
Overall,Woodwardeesmuch ftheBalkanviolence s induced yextremistso
justify
heir xtremismoth t home ndabroad. or
example,
heCroatian
overn-
ment
rovoked
he
"siege"
of
Dubrovnik;
nd
the
Croatian nd Bosnian
govern-
ments et
up
theirmortar atteries
n
hospitals,nducing
ire rom he
Yugoslav
People'sArmy. oth xamples
llustratehat n order o
gain
nternational
ympathy
as well
as foment
utrage
mong
heir
wn
moderates,
thnic
eaders
will
provoke
interethniciolence.67
McGarry
nd
O'Leary
tend o
emphasize
he
mpathy
hat
moderate atholics
n
Northern
reland
eel
or
he
militants,haring
heir
spirations.68
he authors own-
play hedivide etween adicals ndmoderates,t east n this ook.Yet nNorthern
65.
Deng 1995, hap.
11.
66.
Woodward
995,
21.
67.
However,
Woodward oes not
ee all
the ction n extremists
ushing
moderateeaders nto troci-
ties.She
analyzes
s well therole of the eaders
who
encouraged
he
mergence
f
ultranationalists,
n
order o
portray
hemselveso
the
est
f
heworld
s
"moderates"
olding
ack he ltras.
bid.,
55. But
here
s
well he ntranational
ockeying
or
osition
etweenntranationaladicals ndmoderates
layed
role n
drivingnter-nationality
iolence.
68.
McGarry
nd
O'Leary 1995,
hap.
.
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868
International
rganization
Ireland rom 983to 1994,
n
elections
n
which he adical innFeinparty ecided
to participate,
ts
votehovered round 7 percent f theelectorate, ith hemore
moderate ationalisticocial Democratic nd LabourpartySDLP) gettinground
23 percent.69urthermore,here as a significantmount f ntragroupilling.70or
example,
2
percent
f
the
Loyalist illings
ere
gainst rotestants,ither
n
feuds
or because
they
were
nformers.mong heRepublican orces,
n
theperiod rom
1969 to 1993, ixty-fiveeathswere ttributedo Catholic ctivists illing atholic
informers.71study f he iolent onflictnNorthernreland yCaroline ennedy-
Pipe s rifewith ncidentsn which adical atholicsnthe rovisionalRA provoked
British
orces
with he
goal
of
garneringupport rommoderate nd uncommitted
Catholics nd
of
extremistntimidationf
moderates
n
order o undermineeace
efforts.72study y Begoana Aretxaga fthe "dirty rotest,"nwhichCatholic
prisonerspread
ntheir
odies heir
wn
feces
nd
menstruallood, uggeststrongly
a
dynamic
f
radicals
eeking
o demonstrateheir
ppression
ndresolve o Catho-
lic moderates.73nd nother
ritings, cGarry
nd
O'Learypoint
uthow ntrabloc
cleavages
work o constrain oderates.74
Why
do
publics
follow?
There s considerablevidence
n
these ase studies hat
intra-elite
ights
ccasion lite-led
rovocation
f ethnic
iolence
s a
strategy
or
grabbing
r
keeping ower
r to defend
hreatenedoundaries.
onetheless,
hese
accounts hat ocuson elites o somedegree egthequestion fwhy hemasses
follow.
Why
do
they ayextravagant
osts o
fulfill
lite
ower
nterests?
As
we discussed
arlier,
ne
possible
onstructivistnswer
s
that ome ethnic
groups
ustain
and
are
defined
y)
discourses hat
repare
nd
dispose
hem o act
violently
oward thnic
thers,
hileother iscourses o not.
n
our
discussion
f
Kapferer
nd Prunier e outlined he difficultiesf
testing
uch a
hypothesis.
second lass of answers oted arlier
uts
he
focus n
asymmetries
f nformation
betweeneaders nd
followers,
r
psychological
iases
on the
part
f
followers.
he
cases ustreviewed ontain ome upportor uch rguments,speciallyhemanipu-
lation
f
reasonable
ears,
s we saw in theRwandan ase. A final
ossibility,
lso
sketched
n
the theoretical
ection,
rawson Brass's
suggestion
hat
erhaps
he
"followers" re not
really ollowing
t
all,
or
at
eastnot
n
the
way typically re-
sumed.
We
take
p
the
ase
evidence or his
uggestion
ext.
Do
they
ollow?
he
construction
fethnic iolence.
Brassfocuses ot o much
on the
mpact
f
dentity
onstructionn ethnic iolence s
on
the
olitical
onstruc-
tion f "ethnic iolence."He
argues
hat
whether
dispute
s
in
fact thnic iolence
depends nthemotives ftheparticipants,hich retypicallyomplex nd often
69.
Ibid.,
02.
70.
Kennedy-Pipe997,
108.
71.
Ibid.,160;
see also data
from
utton 994.
72. Kennedy-Pipe997, 3,63.
73.
Aretxaga
995.
74.
See,
for
xample, 'Leary
nd
McGarry
1993,
04.
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Violence nd
Ethnic dentity
onstruction 69
obscure r
unknowable.75
is carefulnvestigations
nto he
ircumstancesf vari-
ous local
disputesa rape, theft f a
religious con,
case of police brutality,ll
alleged)revealmore uestions han nswers s to exactlywhathappened nd why.
Much
clearer,
e
argues,s
that uch
mbiguous isputes ometimes
it hepolitical
needsof
ocal or national
oliticians, ho are then
esponsible or ublicly oding
them s "communal
iolence."Brass
uggests hat his oding tself
as ncendiary
implicationsnd
serves o perpetuater
foster ases
of arger cale communal io-
lence, uch s
riots.
In
the
nd,Brass's arguments an
elite heoryf
ethnic iolencewith twist. e
suggests t once
that 1) much f what s
referredo
as "communal iolence" s at
best
mbiguouslyo-that
is, "communal iolence"
ometimesutnot
lways on-
sists fdisputesntheground hat avenothingo do with ommunalmotivations;
and
2) the iolence s
perpetuatedy he ctions f
opportunisticoliticians.ollow-
ing Brass, a
constructivist
ight rgue hatwhat s
significants not that thnic
identitiesre constructed,
utthat
iolence s socially onstructeds "ethnic"
or
"communal,"
n
ndian
erms). ne might
sk,
for
xample,
f
here
as been
great
upsurge
n
ethnicwar ince he nd of
theCold
War,
r whether
ore
nsurgencies
are
now abeled "ethnic"
ue
to
opportunistic
edescriptions
nd
salesmanshipy
rebel eaders
eeking upport rom
reat
ower atrons ewly isposed o see
ethnic
ratherhan
eft-Rightonflict.
Brass's hesis hat hemotivationsf hosemplicatedn "ethnic iolence"may e
more
omplex
han
imple
atred or n
out-group
eceives ubstantial
upport
n
the
extended
ase studies nder eview.
everal fthese ccounts
onvey he ense hat
on the
ground,
hat s described s
ethnic iolence ooks
very
much ike
gang
vio-
lencewith o
necessarythnic imension.
ndeed, asedon these
tudies,
ne
might
conjecture
hat
necessaryonditionor ustainedethnic
iolence" s the vailabil-
ity
f
hugsinmost ases
young
menwho re
ll-educated,nemployed
runderem-
ployed,
nd
from mall
owns)
whocan be
mobilized
y
nationalist
deologues,
ho
themselves,niversityducated, ould hy wayfrom illingheir eighbors ith
machetes. hese case
studies o not xamine
n
minute etail he
recruitment
at-
terns f
nationalist
rganizations,
ndtheres no iterature
omparing
imilar thnic
situations
ith ifferential
vailability
f
young
warriors.76
etthe heme f
young
menwhocan be seduced
y
the
high"
hat
ccompanies
rime nd
given
honor
or
engaging
n
murder
erformed
or
ofty
oals
s relatedn
sotto oce
n
all thebooks
under eview.77
75. If he tandards
ordinary
anguagesage,
hen e
hinkrass
s
mistakeno
uggest
hatn vent
is
"ethniciolence"f nd
nly
f
he
articipants
remotivated
y
desireohurt
thnicthers.
nstead,
we
ordinarily
onsider
alling
iolenceethnic"f ither
1)
we hinkhe
articipants
re
motivated
y
generalized
nimosity
o
he
thnic
ther;2)
actors
irecting
r
eading
he
iolence
ustify
t
by aying
thatt
s
onbehalff n thnic
roup;
r
3)
attackers
re
ssentially
ndifferentbout he
dentity
f heir
victims
part
rom
heir
thnicity.
n
2)
and
3),
no
peculation
boutmotivations
s
necessary.herefore,
itwould e ncorrecto
ay
hat ecause e cannever
ully
nderstand
eople's
motives e cannever
know
f
omething
s
"ethniciolence."
76.
But,
or ome
vidence,
ee
Petersen
989;
nd aitin 995.
77. On his
oint,
ee
Katz
988;
nd uford993.
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870 Internationalrganization
Deng's portrayalftheviolence t first lushhas ittle o do with ecruitmentnd
more o do
with
rmies mployed
o
dominatehe outh
n
thename fArabization.
He reportshat fter lite oliticalurmoilnKhartoumn1964,Muhammad hmed
Mahjoub
ecame
prime
minister
nd
decided
o
focus
his
attention
n the
ow-grade
insurgency
n
the outh.He gave the outherneadershipn ultimatumo surrender
or else, and shortlyhereafterrdered he rmy o engage n massacres f southern
populations.During henight fJuly in Juba, ome3,000grass-thatchedouses
were urned own
nd
more
han thousand eoplekilled ygovernmentorces."
fewdays ater he rmy ttackedn elitewedding artyn Wau,killing 6 southern
elites.
n
August 965
n
Shilluk,
he
rmy
illed187
people, llegedly
o
"prevent
them
oining herebels."All
this
drove outhernersnto
he
bush
or
exile,fearing
extermination.herules fengagement ere o treat ll villagerss guiltyfthere
were rebel ttack romwithin village.78 he Sudanese rmy ngaged n system-
atic ttacks
n
villages,murderingny
lites
who
howed southern
rientation,
ll
in the
name
f
bringing
ultural
nity
o the
ountry.
Yet
theviolencewas
not
imply
he
esult
f
army ppression.
raditionalocial
values
n
the
outh, eng reveals,
ustained
he
ge-set ystem
hat
ave separate
socialrolesfor
young
men.
While lders re
expected
o
negotiate iplomatically
n
affairsf
state, youth
warrior
ge-sets
ound heir tatus nd
dignity
n
warfarend
other ctivities
ssociated
with
hysical itality,ourage,
nd resilience."79
n
fact,
theviolent outhernesistance as madepossible y the vailabilityf youngmen
whofound route ohonor nd tatus
yengaging
n
guerrilla
arfare
gainst
orth-
ern
orces. ighting as
not
imited
othe
tatemilitary
orces.n the
order
oneof
the
NgokDinka,
when he tate
ffectively
educed he
prestige
f
Abyei their
d-
ministrativeenter), oung inkawarriors,
ed
byex-Anya ya the outhernrmy)
soldiers,
ent nto he
ush nd
began
errorist
perationsgainst
inka
nformers
o
northernecurity orces, illingmanyArabs living
n the
borderlands)s
well.
These skirmishesetween he
Dinka,
the
Nuer,
nd borderland
rab
groups
de-
pended pon he asyavailabilityfyoungmenwhocouldbe mobilized or iolent
conflict.
In
Rwanda, s in Sudan,the burden f the violencefell to youngmen
n
the
general opulation.
rom he
very eginning
fRwanda'sviolent
ontemporary
is-
tory,rregularouths
ave
played key
ole.For
xample,
he
park
f he
1959
riots
was the ssault
n
a Hutu
ubchief,
howas active
n
a
Hutu
arty,yyouths
f
the
Rwandan
ational nion
UNAR,
the
arty
f
theTutsi
ristocrats),
nd
rumorshat
he was
killed.
Hutu
bands
of
young
men
responded uickly,
nd killed nd burned
Tutsihomes f all social classes.
The
violence laimed 00 lives.
On the ve of the
genocide, hen he orcesepresentingheRPF had nvaded he ountry,heminister
ofdefensewent
n
the
adio nd asked he
population
o
"track own nd arrest
he
infiltrators."
his
icense
o killhad mmediateffects
n
theMutara
egion
where
78.
Deng1995,
42-44. earon ndLaitin iew
his
trategy
s
part
f a
"spiral quilibrium,"
consequence
f
he
overnmentavingoor
nformationbout ho
s
doing
hat
n
he
nsurgent
ide.
Fearonnd aitin
996.
79.
Deng 995,
7.
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Violence ndEthnic
dentityonstruction 71
348 Tutsi ivilianswere
massacred. one of thevictims
was
in
theRPF. Even the
predationsf theRPF in 1994, n Prunier's nalysis,
wereperformedy the
disaf-
fected outhwhoacted ncontraventiono the rders fRPF leader nd ater rime
minister
fRwanda, aul Kagame.80
Woodward's
eports
n
who ustainedheviolence n
Bosnia, s part fthe
very-
day
reality,ocusupon rregulars.he notes hat
the actual haracteristics
f the
fighting
n
theground ..
reflectedhe
socioeconomic asis of thesepolitics ar
more han
he thnic olorationndhistoricalevenge
hat haracterized
oliticians'
rhetoric.or many, ar
became rare pportunityor
nrichment,hroughheftr
smuggling,
n
a
period f
serious conomic ecline." he describes he
"weekend
warriors,"
lost
generation,
ho
rampaged cross heborder n the
weekendswith
their alashnikov ifles,ndwent ackto their oor-payingobs inSerbia nMon-
day.
n
September991, fterhe
Belgrade nitiative
nnouncing
henew
Yugoslavia
(SerbiaplusMontenegro),ugoslav
eople'sArmy
eservistsrom
erbia
went
n a
shooting pree
n
Tuzla, a multiethnic
ity
n
northern
osnia.These cross-border
raids ecame onstant. UN
arms mbargo n
Yugoslavia nly erved o activate he
Serbian
iaspora
o
buy
rms or riendsnd
family
hoformedocal militias.
n
this
context,
many
f the
fighters
ere
rregulars,
ith
lmostno chainof
command.
Criminalseleased rom
ails,
who
igned p
with hese
militias,
eremost
ikely
o
engage
n
plunder
nd
rape.81
f
criminals ecomenationalist
arriors,
hereverse
process s also possible.McGarryndO'Leary point utthat atacollected ubse-
quent o
politicallyrganized
ease-firesn
Northernreland how rise n
nonpoliti-
cal crime.
ewly
onstrained
n
their ationalist
iolence,
he
hugsmay
have urned
to
criminal iolence.
In
the
ri
Lanka
case,although apfereroes not akeus down o the evelofthe
street,
e
does mentionhat
Sinhalese
angs
made
up
argely
f
mpoverished
nd
unemployedouth
ttacked amils
n
their ouses nd
shops, ettling
ld
scores nd
looting."82
n the
ground,
he thnic ar t ts
arly
tages
was
fought
n
the
inha-
lese sideby gangmembers ndcriminals, robablymore nterestednbooty nd
violence or tsown akethan
n
achieving roup oals.
This scenario
mayhelpexplain
he
puzzle
of
whypublics
ften
ppear
o follow
the
ltimatelyery ostly aths
fethnic xtremismometimeshosen
y
theiread-
ers.
Perhaps ublics
ften o not
ollow,
t eastnot t first.
nstead,
f
elites letthe
thugs o,"
who have motivationsesidesor
n
addition o ethnic
atred, rocesses
begin
hat eave themoderates
n
the
group
ittle hoicebut o follow similar
ath.
By
nitiating
iolent
it-for-tat
equences, hugs ring
bout he onstruction
f
more
antagonistic
roup dentities, aking
t rational o fear heother
roup
nd see its
memberss dangeroushreats.n addition,hugs iolently olicedissent rom he
ethnic xtremist
genda
within heir wn
groups,
incedissent
uestions
heir
egiti-
80. Prunier
995,
8.
81. Woodward
995,
48-65.
Criminalset ut f
ail
and
areerist
hugs
lso staffedhe erb
paramili-
taries n
Kosovo;
see JamesM.
Dorsey,
rom erb
Paramilitaries,
ales of
Killing
nd
Cash,
Wall
treet
Journal,
September999,
A18.
82.
Kapferer
988,
101.
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872 Internationalrganization
macy.83hus,only fter guerilla
warhas begun re everyday rimordialist
enti-
ments ransformednto thnic ntipathieshat an motivatend sustain
widespread,
ongoing iolence. ven then, he xtent fethnic ntipathiess probably verstated.
Identityonstructionhroughtrategic
ction on theGround"
The strategicnterpretationf dentity
onstructioneednotfocus n Mt.
Olympus
and
the
nitiatives
f
elites, s argued arlier.t might
lso
be developed
yfocusing
on strategicction t groundevel by ordinaryolk.There s revealing
vidence n
the ase studies n how ethnic iolence an spiral ecauseof political
ontestation
over
group oundarieshat
re
not
he esult felitemanipulation.
Several f the uthors f thebooksunder eview ccept odifferentegrees he
notion hatdentityroups re onstructed
nd hereforerefluid eographicallynd
culturally.
et
they
re
argely
ilent bout he mplications
fthis
spect
f
dentity
constructionor iolence. eng,
n
histreatmentfthe udanese ivil
war, rovides
material
n
supportftheories
inkingmbiguous oundarieso violence.
erritorial
anomalies, eng's
book
nicely
llustrates, ay nvite
iolent
onflict.
he
territorial
divide etween he north"
nd
"south"
nthe
udan
s not
clean
ne,
s
illustrated
by
the
history
nd
geography
f theNgokDinka.ManyNgokbecameMuslim
nd
were
bilingual
n
Dinka and
Arabic,
ut
according
o
Deng,
"the
Ngok
have
re-
maineddistinctlyinkaand n somerespectsmore o than heir rethrenarther
South."84
onetheless,
heir ome rea s
in
the outhern
oint
f
the
northern
rov-
ince
of
Kordofan,s theNgok
n
earlier
imes ffiliatedith ordofano eekprotec-
tion
gainst
rab lave
traders.
n
the ra of
nationalism,oungNgok
ought o
be
incorporated
n
the outh, nd
this
esire ecame n ssuethat
ntensifiedhenorth-
south onflict. fterheAddis
Ababa
Agreement
hat nded he irstivilwar, umer-
ous
Ngok
were
o-opted
nto he
northern
amp,
ut nce
they xperienced
he ow-
status
ositions
n
which
hey
were
ontinuallyut, hey
eturnedo
the
Dinka
amp,
manyothe outhernrmy.nfact,everal f he ongs emandingouthernreedom
were
written
nArabic
y
Dinkaswhohad converted
o slam.
Ngok
failure o
get
fair eal
dentifying
hemselvess
northernersrove hem
wholeheartedly
nd esent-
fully
nto
he
outhern
amp.
Territorialnd cultural oundaries,
f
they
re
to
be maintained
leanly, equire
coordination.
f all
Ngok
Dinkassee themselves
s
unambiguously
outherners,
n
the ne
hand,
t willbe
extremely
ifficultor
ny
ne
Ngok
o
dentify
imself
s a
northerner.n the
ther
and,
f
the
Ngoks
redivided
mong
hemselves,ny
one
Ngok
has
a
broader
late
or
dentity.
nder onditions
here
roups
avenot oor-
dinated n an identity,ith hepossibilityf a tip n one directionrtheother,
in-groupshereNgoks,
whose dentifiers
ay
fear
group
xtinction
f the
ip
s in
favor f
a wider
dentity)
nd
out-groupshere
Arabized
ortherners,
hosemem-
bers, specially
he
marginal
nes,might
ee
Ngok
assimilation
s a
threat
o
their
83. For his
rgumentpplied
o
violence n
Yugoslavia,
ee Mueller
997.
Kaufmann as
argued
hat
ethnic
ar
lmost
rreversibly
hardens"
thnic
dentities
o
that
he
primordialist
ision
f
ethnicity
an
become true" n the ourse
fa
conflict. aufmann 996.
84.
Deng
1995, 44.
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Violence ndEthnic
dentityonstruction 73
privilege
r
allegedpurity) an be driven ntodirect ction. hey eek to create
culturalquilibrium,n which n ndividual's eliefs hat e s really southerners
alsoperceived s his optimaldentityhoice, onfirmedy the orollaryhoices f
other
Ngoks.Through hismechanismf nterdependent
dentityhoice, veryday
primordialisman be seen as part f a cultural
quilibrium.n theNgok case, the
process eading othe onstructionf verydayrimordialisman nduce ndividuals
to engage
n
ntragroupnd ntergroupiolence.
Ambiguous ultural oundariesre as inflammatorys
territorialnes.Northern
militancy,
n
Deng's view, s propelled y fear mong orthernershat ccommoda-
tionwould
exposethem
s
"Africans."
he
fact f great hysiognomicimilarity
with
outherners,eng feels,
makes
northernersvenmore oncerned ith
phold-
ing ocialboundariesgainst he outh.85urthermore,ome womillion outherners
now ive n thenorth. ome are adapting o northern
ulture,nd their hildrenre
going
o
Arabic-languagechools. et omehave oined he
outhernutonomy ove-
ment
nd thus
epresent southernnfluence ithin henorthtself. o counteract
this
possibility,eng reasons,
heNorthernslamicFront arries hebanner f
a
"northernationalism"ven more
ssiduously.
s
cultural oundaries lur
n the
realworld, adicalnationalistsecomemoremilitanto
protecthehistoricallyon-
structed
oundaries.86
This phenomenons especially ruefornorthernersf the mostquestionable
Arabdescent. or xample,nthe onstitutionalebates f 1951, he roposal ogive
special
status nd
protection o
the
south
was
defeated,
nd received
trongly
negative esponses ydescendantsfformerlaves iving n
the
north.
eng quotes
MansourKhalid's analysis: Abd al-Tam
..
can be
deemed,
ike so
many ther
Sudaneseof
markedly egroid rigin, o
have been
compelled
o
take
positions
like that
n
order o out-Herod erod." Another orthernroupof questionable
status
s
Arabs,
he
Baggara,
whohaveno traditions
inking
hem
o the
rophet,
re
among
he
trongest
rab
hauvinists,specially
n their
rovocations
fthe outh-
ernDinka.87
Summary
We
have
argued
hat here
re
two main
ways
to
develop
the
nsight
hat thnic
identities
re
socially onstructed
n the direction f
explanations
or
thnic
io-
lence.88 ne route iews
dentity
onstruction
rom he
perspective
f ndividuals'
85.
Ibid.,
4.
86.
Ibid.,
181-82.
87.
Ibid.,
130-31.
An
nterestingxample
f blurred oundariesndtheir
mplications
or
iolence
s
suggested yJeganathan.eganathan
997.
On the utskirts
f
Colombo,
ri
Lanka,
amils
ive n
expec-
tation
f ethnic
iolence, iven
he
past
record f
periodic ogroms.
ome
Tamil
parents
herefore
ive
their hildreninhalese ames
nd
ngage
n
Sinhalese
ultural
ractices
o
that
hey
willnot e
dentified
as Tamils
hould
iots reak ut.
Yet this orm f
strategic anipulation
lurs heboundaries etween
groups
nd
enrages
inhalese
ationalists,
ho
point
o
such
practices
s evidence
f
Tamil
erfidy.
88.
We
discounted
third, amely,
hat
road,
ecular
ocial and economic
rocesses
an be seen
as
causes
for thnic
iolence, xcept ossibly
s
necessary
onditions.
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874 Internationalrganization
actions-eitherhe liteswho onstructntagonisticthnicdentitiesnorder omain-
tain r ncrease heir olitical ower, r themasspublicswhose ndividual ctions
produce, eproduce,nd contest he ontentndboundaries f ethnic ategories.n
the econd oute, upra-individualiscourses fethnicityontainnternal,deational
logics hat onstructctors ndmotivaterdefine heir ossibilitiesor ction.
The narrativesnder eview ive details n how ethnic oundaries nd antago-
nisms ollow rom hepolitical trategiesf elites eeking o gainpower r under-
mine hallengers.everalmechanisms ere osited ywhich lites nduce hemasses,
who
pay
an
enormous
ost for
heviolence,
o
follow.However,
ome
evidence
suggestshat hemasses renot uped tall. Rather ethnic iolence" anbe a cover
forother
motivations
uch as
looting,
and
grabs,
nd
personal evenge;
nd the
activitiesfthugs et oose bythepoliticiansan "tie thehands" fpublicswho re
compelled o seekprotection
rom
he
eaderswhohave
endangered
hem. n
alter-
nate tory evelopinghe onstructivistoint bout ermeable roup oundaries as
non-elites rovoking iolence o prevent oundary crossing"
r to raise
their
n-
group tatus. n both f these ases theconstructionf ethnic ntagonismss the
result f ndividualtrategicction.
The thesis hat iscursiveogics xplain ehavior hould otbe discarded, espite
the
apparent rimordialism
n the
presentation
f these
ogics
n some
cases,
and
despite bstacles o testinguchargumentsmpiricallycrosscases. The Sinhala
logicofexorcism ndtheHutu econstructionfthe olonialmyth
f
Tutsi oreign-
nesscreate
cripts
f
proper
r heroic ction hat nvite
oung
men o
reenact hem.
Stories
eople
ell bout
hemselves,
s
with ishkov's
xample
rom
irgizia,
ven
when
couched
deeply
n
metaphor,
s
with
Geertz's
ockfight,
ecome
available
models or
pecific
ehaviors. s we havenoted n
our
discussion
f
eny
nd
raxha
in the ontext fCatalan olitics,making he nternalogicofcomplex,multifaceted
discourses xplanatory
s a difficultusiness.
till,
f
the
supply
f
culturallyp-
proved cripts
s
limited,
hen
n
times
f social stress r conflict
n
"availability
heuristic" ight
ellbe in
force,making
ocietieswith
cripts,
uch s
the
inhala
orthe
Kirgiz,
more
rone
o
ntergroup
iolence.89
Implicitn ourpresentation
s an
assumption
hat he
igid
ivide
n
methodologi-
cal debates etween ulturalistndrationalist
ccounts an be
bridged.
he
strategic
theories
inking
ndividuals
whether
lites
or
masses)
to
ethnic
iolence
nd the
discursiveheories
inking
iscourses
o
violent ehaviorsre ll constructivist
nthe
sensethat
hey osit
he ontentnd boundaries f ethnic
roups
s
produced
nd
reproducedy specific
ocial
processes.
he
specification
f what
hese
processes
are, he elineationfthe recisemechanismsywhich heyeadtoethnicallyased
violence,
nd the
testing
f
these
pecifications
ith
sample
of cases
exhibiting
both
igh
nd
ow violence emain
hallenges
o
rationalistnd
culturalistonstruc-
tivists
like.
89.
Tversky
nd
Kahneman
982,
13.
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Violence ndEthnicdentityonstruction 75
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