Specialist
Group on Ethnopolitics
Newsletter Spring
2005
Dear Members,
Our Specialist Group on Ethnopolitics was present at
the annual conference of the UK’s Political Studies
Association in Leeds in April with a
panel on the broad theme of “Ethnopolitics in Europe”. We also co-sponsored
a panel with the European Centre for Minority Issues at the Annual
World Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities
in New York City, also in April.
We will also be represented at the ECPR conference in Budapest in September. Stefan
and Fiona Adamson are running a section
on "Contemporary Security Issues” which in
turn includes a panel being chaired by Karl on “Conceptualising Security”. Other panels relevant to members of the group
are: Ethnic Bargaining and International Security (Erin Jenne, CEU), Migration and Security (Fiona Adamson, UCL), Self-determination
and Security (Katharine Adeney), From Violence to (In)security:
The Paradox of the "Permanent Transition" (Mariella Pandolfi, Université de Montréal). We
hope to see some of you there.
The most exciting news, from our perspective,
is of course that our journal Ethnopolitics has now seen its
first ever hardcopy issue. Published by Routledge, vol. 4, no. 1
just came off the printing press. The publisher’s webpage for the
journal can be accessed at http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/17449057.asp.
For the first year, there will be one freely accessible article per
issue, book reviews and review essays will also remain accessible
without charge. Free sample copies can also be requested via the
website.
As ever, please find below the latest academic
activities of colleagues that we hope are of interest to you:
Ilona Klímová-Alexander [ik217@cam.ac.uk]
has informed us of “The Romani Voice in World
Politics: The United Nations and Non-State Actors”, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2005 Series: Non-State Actors in International Law, Politics and Governance
Series. Ilona Klimova-Alexander brings Europe's largest transnational
and most marginalized ethnic minority, the Roma (Gypsies), into the
discourse of international relations. The book describes and analyzes
the attempts of Romani activists to gain
voice in world politics by interacting with the United Nations system
and explores their capabilities and impact. This study has three objectives:
it provides an introduction to global Romani activism
in terms of its anatomy, history, political manifestos, goals and activities;
it establishes the extent and essence of the Romani voice
in world politics and its influence on the UN discourse on Roma; furthermore,
it looks at how interacting with the UN system has affected the organizational
structure of the global Romani activism and
its discourse. Based largely on primary resources and fieldwork, this
book will engage international relations scholars, political scientists
and those concerned with social movements and ethnic and racial studies.
Nick Baron (Nottingham) [Nick.Baron@nottingham.ac.uk] and Peter Gatrell (Manchester) [peter.gatrell@man.ac.uk] are pleased to announce a new AHRB-funded
four-year research project “Population Displacement, State Practice
and Social Experience in the USSR and Eastern Europe, 1930-1950s”. This project investigates
forced migration in Eastern
Europe and the USSR during
the middle decades of the twentieth century. Building on their previous
AHRB-funded project “Population Displacement, State-building and Social Identity
in the Former Russian Eempire, 1918-1930” (http://www.art.man.ac.uk/HISTORY/ahrbproj/details.htm), the new research project examines population displacement
across the region as a form of state policy, as a focus of intervention
by international governmental and non-governmental agencies, and
as a life event experienced by the displaced persons themselves,
taking account of 1930s migration and deportation policies;
the impact of international relations and war on regional populations
(Nazi genocidal policies, however, will not themselves be a focus
of attention); post-war displacements and resettlement; the operations
of international relief agencies in the region; the Sovietisation
of Eastern Europe and the onset of the Cold War; and the beginnings
of de-Stalinisation, which laid the basis for the return of some
deportees. The project is also designed
to develop the research methodologies and consolidate the collaborative
relationships with East European scholars established by the earlier
project.
Brian Cooper [bcooperw@bigpond.net.au] is currently
developing a web publication for Western Sydney that will examine
the ethnic diversity of the region. It
will cover the history and culture of the various ethnic groups resident.
It will also use a range of multimedia to assist with the understanding
of each community, their socio-religious structure and spatial distribution.
Milton Esman’s [mje5@cornell.edu] latest book, “An Introduction to Ethnic
Conflict”, was published in 2004 by Polity Press in Cambridge, UK.
David Galbreath’s new book is “Nation-Building and Minority Politics in Post-Socialist States, Interests, Influence and Identities
in Estonia and Latvia”. Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag, 2005.
John J. Kulczycki’s [kul@uic.edu] latest
publications include: “Polish Communists and National Self-Determination
after World War II” and “Eastern Europe in Western Civilization
Textbooks: The Example of Poland,” The History Teacher, 38, No. 2 (February 2005): 153-177.
Sarah Kenyon Lischer, [slischer@sbc.edu] has just published, “Dangerous Sanctuaries:
Refugee Camps, Civil War, and the Dilemmas of Humanitarian Aid.” Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 2005. As of August 2005,
she will be Assistant Professor of Political Science at Wake Forest University.
Marc Weller [mw148@cam.ac.uk] and Stefan Wolff [s.wolff@bath.ac.uk] have a new book out on Autonomy, Self-governance and Conflict Resolution (Routledge
2005). Comparing several cases of conflict settlements in Africa,
Asia, Europe and Latin America and acknowledging the
significance of recent developments in the design of complex and
innovative autonomy regimes and focusing on different options that
are available for their design, this book makes an important contribution
to, and moves forward the current debate among scholars and practitioners
on institutional design in ethnically diverse societies by establishing
the role of institutional design in ethnically diverse societies;
analysing in-depth a key approach to state construction ethnically
diverse societies – the creation of autonomy regimes – and assessing
its applicability from the perspective of viable political institutions;
examining recent cases from Europe, Asia and Latin America in which
new forms of autonomy regimes have contributed to peace and stability
in ethnically diverse societies; comparing and contrasting, on
the basis of in-depth case studies, the features that characterise
successful institutional design of autonomy regimes in ethnically
diverse societies; and assessing the current state of the theory
and practice of institutional design in ethnically diverse societies.
Tamara Cofman Wittes [twittes@brookings.edu] has recently published “How Israelis and Palestinians
Negotiate A Cross-Cultural Analysis
of the Oslo Peace Process”, Washington: US Institute of
Peace Press, 2005. The volume conducts a critical/self--critical
exploration of the impact of culture on the ill-fated Oslo peace process.
The authors, negotiators and scholars demolish stereotypes as
they construct an unusually subtle and sophisticated understanding
of how culture influences negotiating styles. Culture, they argue,
did not cause the Oslo breakdown but it did play an influential,
intervening role at several levels: colouring the thinking of
political leaders, shaping domestic politics on both sides, and
affecting each sides evaluation of the others beliefs and intentions.
Best wishes,
Karl & Stefan
