One of the fundamental human needs is the need to belong to a particular community - family, tribal, professional, and the like. The most important place here belongs to the ethnic community. Self-identification "I am a Ukrainian" or "I am a Chinese" is not just a fixation of how attached an individual is to social coordinates, but an expression of a person's deep need to be part of one of the most stable social communities - an ethnic group. Any restrictions in solving this need inevitably leads to conflicts.
Despite the already rather long history of the existence of the science of ethnology, the generally recognized concept of "ethnos * has not been developed. Various ethnological schools highlight either objective factors in the formation of ethnic groups (connection with the natural environment, common territory, language), or subjective (self-name, common spirit , religions), sometimes natural, sometimes historical. NOT included in this dispute, let's believe the definition provided in the Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary (K.: Abris, 2002): "Ethnos is a community in which people are united by belief in a common origin and the presence of cultural unity - language, customs, myths, epos, etc. ".
Thus, ethnic identity is determined primarily by intra-group norms of behavior, the features of which are fixed by linguistic, psychological, ethical, aesthetic, religious and other means of culture. Additional strength and unity of the ethnic group is added by the common history and solidarity around common symbols.
Together with the concept of "ethnos", the concept of "nation" is used to characterize relations between peoples. In world practice, it means the union of citizens of one state. In this sense, this word is used, for example, in the title - the United Nations.
This is an organization not of some kind of economic or cultural communities, but rather of sovereign states, which are usually called national, because, as a rule, states were formed on the basis of one or several fairly large ethnic groups. Therefore, defining the relationship between the concepts of "ethnos" and "nation", one could say that a nation is an ethnos that has found its own statehood.
At the same time, it should be noted that the borders between states never exactly coincided with the boundaries of the local residence of representatives of specific ethnic groups. Many ethnic groups in general often turned out to be separated by the borders of states (Poles, Armenians), and the formation of large states occurred when it was necessary to unite many ethnic groups. For example, Americans (US citizens) are one nation, although there are a lot of ethnic groups mixed in it.
Each ethnos strives to survive and strengthen itself in order to obtain its own statehood. This aspiration received especially vivid expression at the turn of the II-III millennium. This is precisely the essence of interethnic conflicts: each ethnic group believes that it can protect its culture, identity and spiritual unity only by creating its own state. This is its strength: such a need cannot be suppressed without destroying the ethnos itself. This, as a rule, is his tragedy. Since the full implementation of the idea "each ethnic group - in the country" - a pure utopia. In today's world, there are about 200 sovereign states, and more than 5,000 ethnic groups. In Ukraine alone, there are significantly more than a hundred of them. Where on our planet to place so many states?
Of course, it can be objected that most ethnic groups are small, and they do not need to create their own states. There are only 267 ethnic groups numbering more than a million people. So, maybe we should limit ourselves to them? This, probably, has a certain meaning, but how to explain an ethnic group that has not reached the desired million (for example, 300,000) that it does not have the right to its own state? It's like announcing to people below average height that they are deprived of political rights because they did not come out tall. If the right of an ethnic community to establish a state is recognized, then it must be equal for all. But this path leads nowhere.
It would seem that everything is already - the world is divided by state borders completely and irrevocably. There are no more free territories. Exhausted by bloody wars, the world community solemnly proclaimed, first in UN documents, and then in Helsinki (the final act of the conference on security and cooperation in Europe, adopted on August 1, 1975), the principles of mutual recognition of state sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders.
However, in less than two decades, the world shuddered from the next wave of sovereignization of ethno-national groups. The USSR collapsed into 15 independent states, almost all the former Yugoslav republics dispersed with great bloodshed, Eritrea separated from Ethiopia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia peacefully separated, but Germany united. And this process is far from over. The Kurds in Turkey, the Chechens in Russia, the Abkhazians and Ossetians in Georgia are no longer just demanding, but are defending their right to self-determination with weapons in their hands. The Kosovo Albanians managed to draw an entire military-political bloc into their conflict and in 2008 received their national statehood.
This strange phenomenon is called the ethnic renaissance, or the ethnic paradox of modernity. The fact is that almost all the doctrines and ideologies that developed in the past (both liberal and radical) were permeated with the conviction that interethnic strife, especially in its barbaric forms, should gradually become a thing of the past under the pressure of the internationalization of the economy and culture. But, unfortunately, the predictions did not come true. The past suddenly became the future. And if we take into account that practically all current states are not at all homogeneous in terms of ethnic composition, then practically in each of them (primarily in federal ones) inter-ethnic conflicts can flare up.
The fatality of this problem lies in the fact that inter-ethnic conflicts cannot be prevented by any general agreement on peace and harmony. The existing states will negotiate, and conflicts will give rise to ethnic groups that only want to have their own states. So far, no one has been able to convince the "offended" ethnic groups that their goal should be civil equality, which ensures all the rights to the development of their special ethnic culture, and not their own statehood.
Under these conditions, there is nothing left but to hope that the current ethnic renaissance will dry up by itself. The current surge of ethnopolitical activity is bypassed by the most developed countries. The richer and more civilized the country, the less reason for inter-ethnic clashes in it. In Great Britain, Scotland and Wales even voted for the creation of their own parliaments, hoping in this way to strengthen their ethnic status, but no one even thinks of separating from England and fomenting wars over this. The latter, in the words of the American political scientist Sigmund Brzezinski, have become a luxury available only to the poor peoples of this world. So, sooner or later, some kind of ethno-political balance must be established in the world, when all ethnic communities that are really capable of creating independent states today will achieve this goal.
Of course, such reasoning is of little consolation. When else will this balance be established, but they are killing now. To this, conflictology remains to repeat its main rule: it is impossible to avoid conflicts, one must learn to live with them and minimize the costs in them. And for this, first of all, one should learn to understand the peculiarities of ethnic conflicts.
1. All interethnic conflicts are of a complex, complex nature. An ethnic group must feel discriminated both in socio-economic life (low income, work in non-prestigious professions, inaccessibility of a good education) and spiritually (oppression in religion, restrictions on the use of the native language, disrespect for customs and traditions).
2. Since the essence of interethnic conflicts is determined by the desire of an ethnic group for its own statehood, they are inevitably political in nature,
3. Conflicts of this type are always characterized by a high intensity of emotions and passions and a manifestation of the irrational aspects of human nature.
4. Most inter-ethnic conflicts have deep historical roots, but even if it does not exist, the conflicting parties will certainly create it thanks to pseudo-historical research.
5. Interethnic conflicts are characterized by high mobilization. Ethnic features (language, way of life, faith) of the defended make up the daily life of each member of the ethnic group, ensures the mass nature of the movement in their defense.
6. Interethnic conflicts are permanent ("chronic") in nature, when they do not have a final solution. And the degree of freedom and independence that the current generation of an ethnos is satisfied with can be considered insufficient for the next one.
7. All ethnic conflicts begin with territorial claims due to the fact that the first sign of any state is the territory.
Actions to neutralize confrontation between participants in interethnic conflicts can be as follows:
1) legitimation of the conflict - the official recognition by the existing power structures and the conflicting parties of the existence of the problem itself (the subject of the conflict), which requires discussion and resolution;
2) the institutionalization of the conflict, that is, the development by the parties of the rules and norms governing civilized behavior in the conflict, are recognized as participants in the conflict;
3) transfer of the conflict to the legal plane;
4) the introduction of the institution of mediation in the organization and implementation of the negotiation process;
5) information support of ways to resolve the conflict, that is, truthful coverage of negotiations and the availability and objectivity of information about the causes and course of the conflict, bringing it to all interested citizens.
In the sphere of ethno-political conflicts, as in all others, one should always remember the old rule: conflicts are easier to prevent than to solve later. This is what the state policy of states should be aimed at, the leadership of which must remember that state borders cannot be drawn strictly at the place of residence of certain ethnic groups. Therefore, a mono-ethnic state is a utopia. Summing up the foregoing, we can say that the self-determination of nations today can only be understood as the equality of the rights of ethnic groups to preserve and develop their culture, it is achieved not by pushing the bearers of another culture beyond their territorial boundaries, but by mutual respect and tolerance for differences between them.
Chapter 4. Ethnic conflicts: causes and ways of settlement
4.1. Definition and classification of ethnic conflicts
Intergroup relations consist of an inextricable link of conflicts and cooperation, but the main problems for any society are introduced by numerous conflicts. When we say “group conflicts”, revolutions, religious intolerance, inter-ethnic clashes, rivalry between the sexes, sharp labor disputes come to mind. The Russian-American sociologist P. Sorokin calculated that for 24 centuries in the history of mankind, four peaceful years account for one year, accompanied by violent conflicts - wars, revolutions, riots. Among intergroup (or social in the broad sense of the word) conflicts, the following are usually distinguished:
Political conflicts, when the struggle is for power, dominance, influence, authority;
Socio-economic (or social in the narrow sense of the word) - "between labor and capital", for example, between trade unions and employers;
Ethnic - about the rights and interests of ethnic communities (see Zdravomyslov, 1993).
So, one of the most significant are conflicts between ethnic communities. However, one can agree with V.A. Tishkov that ethnic conflicts in their “pure” form do not actually exist (see Tishkov, 1997). In reality, we meet with interpenetrating conflicts, each of which provides a breeding ground for the other. It is no coincidence that even conflict experts often cannot come to a consensus on what kind of conflict they are dealing with - ethnic in political camouflage or vice versa. According to
Tishkov, almost all open conflicts on the territory of the former USSR can be classified as ethnic, because: “Due to the multi-ethnic composition of the population of the former USSR and the current new states ..., in fact, any internal conflict, socio-economic or political in nature, acquires an ethnic coloration, which, as a rule, deepens and complicates the emerging contradictions, giving the conflicts an additional emotional background” (Tishkov, 1997, p. 304).
Researchers offer a variety of classifications of ethnic conflicts. When classified according to the goals set by the parties involved in the conflict in the struggle for limited resources, they can be divided into:
Socio-economic, in which demands for civil equality are put forward (from citizenship rights to equal economic status):
Cultural and linguistic, in which the requirements put forward affect the problems of preserving or reviving the functions of the language and culture of the ethnic community;
Political, if the participating ethnic minorities seek political rights (from local autonomy to full-blown confederalism);
Territorial - based on the requirements of changing borders, joining another - "related" from a cultural and historical point of view - the state or the creation of a new independent state (see Yamskoye, 1997).
Sociologists, political scientists and ethnologists, seeking to distinguish conflict from other close phenomena, often consider it exclusively as a real struggle between groups, as a clash of incompatible actions. Thus, V.A. Tishkov defines "... an ethnic conflict as any form of civil, political or armed confrontation in which the parties, or one of the parties, mobilize, act or suffer on the basis of ethnic differences" (Tishkov, 1997, p. .476). With this understanding of the conflict, it turns out to be a stage of extreme aggravation of contradictions, manifested in conflict behavior, and has an exact start date - as the beginning of confrontation.
But from the point of view of a psychologist who takes into account the dynamics of the conflict, the very contradiction between groups that have incompatible goals in the struggle for limited resources (territory, power, prestige) turns out to be only one of the stages of the conflict - the stage that is usually called an objective conflict situation. Strictly speaking, almost everywhere on Earth there are contradictions between ethnic communities - inter-ethnic tension in the broadest sense of the word. Unfortunately, not a single multi-ethnic society can do without it. Most often, tension exists between the dominant ethnic community and the ethnic minority, but it can be either open, manifesting itself in the form of conflict actions, or hidden, smoldering. In the latter case, tension is expressed in social competition, achieved by an evaluative comparison of one's own and another's groups in favor of one's own.
And the existing social contradictions, although they play a decisive role among the causes of conflict actions, are not directly related to them: conflict actions arise if the opposing sides realize the incompatibility of their interests and have the appropriate motivation for behavior. In other words, the stage of awareness and emotional maturation of the conflict is very important. Experienced "historical injustices" make low-status ethnic minority groups want justice done, but this does not necessarily lead to an immediate reaction. More often, many years pass before the start of conflict interaction, during which the ethnic community rallies around the idea of revenge. Many centuries have passed since the expulsion of the Jews from the Promised Land, but this very fact was the rationale for their many years of struggle for return.
If the objective conflict situation is realized, even random events, due to the emotionality inherent in interethnic relations, and sometimes irrationality, can lead to conflict interaction as the most acute stage of the conflict. However, even if the situation is perceived as a conflict, social competition may not result in conflict interaction, because, as a rule, low-status groups come into conflict with high-status groups if they perceive intergroup relations not only as illegal, but also as unstable. It was in a situation of instability caused by the collapse of the Soviet empire that the most convenient moment came for "revenge" for the "injuries" inflicted over the centuries on almost all the peoples of the former USSR.
At the stage of conflict interaction, ethnic conflicts tend to self-expansion or escalation, which means that the parties are moving from “light” to “hard” tactics: from mass non-violent actions (rallies, demonstrations, “civil disobedience” actions) to clashes that sooner or later lead to bloodshed (between Ossetians and Ingush in the Prigorodny district of North Ossetia-Alania or between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the Osh region of Kyrgyzstan), and even to military conflicts - ethno-political wars (Armenian-Azerbaijani, Georgian-Abkhazian) (see Streletsky, 1997).
Psychologists identify another stage of the conflict - its resolution or settlement, the analysis of which we will devote a separate section of this chapter. In the meantime, we note that from the point of view of a psychologist, the conflict not only does not begin with the beginning of conflict actions, but also does not end with their end. After the end of direct opposition - at the stage of "licking the wounds" - the conflict can persist in the form of social competition and manifest itself in the image of the enemy and prejudice. Even in the mid 90s. 24% of Russian respondents are over 60 years old, i.e. survivors of the war agreed with the statement that the Germans are the primordial enemies of the Russian people (see Zdravomyslov, 1996).
So, by ethnic conflict in the broad sense of the word, we mean any competition between groups - from real confrontation for the possession of limited resources to social competition - in all those cases when, in the perception of at least one of the parties, the opposing side is defined in terms of the ethnicity of its members. .
From the point of view of a sociologist or political scientist, such an understanding of the ethnic conflict, apparently, is not accurate. But when social competition is included in the concept of conflict, its explanation becomes more complex, since the cognitive and motivational processes that can precede direct collisions, influence their escalation and continue after their completion are analyzed.
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Ethnic conflicts are clashes between representatives of different nationalities, which are caused by specific features in culture, traditions and way of life, as well as social inequality. The problems that arise between nations are of relevance to their researchers.
The main reason for close attention is the issue of the difficulty of resolving these skirmishes, which currently serve as the most common source of controversy in society and cause political instability.
Ethnic conflicts that exist in the modern world are identified as ethno-religious-territorial. The Karabakh and Georgian-Abkhazian, Ulster and Basque crises can be attributed to this kind of tension.
Currently, ethnic conflicts continue to destabilize the situation in Latin America. They are also observed in
Ethnic conflicts in Russia are also a serious problem. The most striking example of this is the one that unfolded on the territory of the Russian Federation.
The structure of national clashes is determined by two main elements. On the one hand, for their occurrence it is necessary to divide people according to national characteristics, and on the other hand, the presence of an object of confrontation.
The causes of clashes related to direct ones can be contradictions in territorial, political, economic and social issues. It should also be borne in mind that the subjective factor plays a dominant role in unleashing the crisis and greatly complicates it.
In any multinational state, issues affecting the sphere of politics, culture or economy, without fail acquire, among other things, ethnic expression. The likelihood of occurrence, as well as the severity of conflicts between representatives of different groups, is directly dependent on the policy of the country.
ethnic conflict
A form of intergroup conflict, where groups with conflicting interests become polarized along ethnic lines. The source of E. to., as a rule, are non-ethnic socio-political and economic contradictions. The growth of E. k. is accompanied by the growth of ethnocentrism, characteristic to one degree or another of ethnic self-awareness of any level of development, an increase in the intensity of circulation in society of negative ethnic stereotypes, the crystallization of nationalist ideology. The internal, actually ethnic, source of E. to. can be a clash of national interests, i.e., the same socio-political and economic interests, but recognized at the level of national self-consciousness as the fundamental vital needs of a given ethnic community. The awareness of these interests by an increasing number of members of a given ethnic group in a clash situation leads to a threat to these interests (real or imaginary) and, accordingly, the need to protect them. The politicization of ethnicity, that is, the process in which opposing social strata and groups are polarized along ethnic lines, can serve as another source of E. to. E. to. can acquire special sharpness and scope due to the great emotional potential of people's ethnic self-awareness, the possibility of rapid consolidation of all social groups of a given community along ethnic lines.
Brief psychological dictionary. - Rostov-on-Don: PHOENIX. L.A. Karpenko, A.V. Petrovsky, M. G. Yaroshevsky. 1998 .
ethnic conflict- (communal conflict), conflict between decomp. groups of us. (often in one state), based on religious, racial, linguistic, cultural or historical. differences are factors that collectively determine the nature and characteristics of an ethnic group. E.k. ... ... Peoples and cultures
ETHNIC CONFLICT- English. conflict, ethnic; German Konflikt, ethnischer. The conflict between representatives of different nationalities or ethnic groups, arising as a result of differences in everyday life, traditions, culture, as well as social. inequalities. Antinazi. Encyclopedia of Sociology ... Encyclopedia of Sociology
A form of intergroup conflict when groups with conflicting interests are polarized along ethnic lines. Their source is usually non-ethnic socio-political and economic contradictions. Growing conflict of ethnic ... ... Great Psychological Encyclopedia
ethnic conflict- ethnic conflict, a form of civil confrontation at the intra- and trans-state levels, in which at least one of the parties organizes and acts along ethnic lines or on behalf of a certain ethnic community. Forms vary... Encyclopedia "Peoples and Religions of the World"
The form of civil, watered. or armed confrontation, in which the parties, or one of the parties, mobilize, act or suffer on the basis of ethnicity. differences. Under K. e. different types of competition between groups should be understood from ... ... Psychology of communication. encyclopedic Dictionary
Ethnopolitical conflict- Ethno-political conflict is one of the forms of ethnic conflicts, which is associated with the politicization of an ethnic community. A.R. Aklaev in his work "Ethnopolitical conflictology" gives a more detailed definition: Ethnopolitical conflicts ... Wikipedia
Ethno-confessional conflict- Ethno-confessional conflict is one of the forms of ethnic conflicts in which the confessional difference exacerbates the ethnic one. It manifests especially pronounced forms in regions inhabited by peoples that have developed in different civilizations (Caucasus, ... ... Wikipedia
Interethnic conflict- Inter-ethnic conflict conflict between representatives of ethnic communities, usually living in close proximity in any state. Since "nationality" in Russian usually means the same as "ethnic ... ... Wikipedia
Interethnic conflict- Inter-ethnic conflict conflict between representatives of ethnic communities, usually living in close proximity in any state. Causes and stages of development Although the basis of most interethnic conflicts are quite ... ... Wikipedia
Pedagogical conflict- Pedagogical conflicts include interpersonal conflicts between a teacher and a pupil (teacher and student, parent and child), as well as intergroup conflicts, if they arise between a teacher and a class, for example. Also pedagogical ... Wikipedia
5.1. Ethnic conflicts are one of the global problems of our time. Factors in the development of ethnic conflicts
Conflicts associated with the aggravation of interethnic relations have become an indispensable attribute of the modern world. They flare up on all continents of our planet: in both developed and developing countries, in the areas of distribution of any religious teachings, in areas with different levels of income and education. Numerous hotbeds of ethnic conflicts - from global (Kurdish, Palestinian, Kosovo, Chechen) to local and point (household contradictions between people of different nationalities within the city, town, village) - give rise to instability, which is increasingly difficult to contain within state borders. Neighboring ethnic groups are almost always involved to one degree or another in confrontations between ethnic groups, and often distant centers of power, including such large-scale geopolitical players as the USA, Russia, Great Britain, India, and China.
concept conflict in Latin means "collision". Signs of conflict are manifested in the clash of forces, parties, interests. The object of the conflict can be either a fragment of material, socio-political or spiritual reality, or the territory, its subsoil, social status, distribution of power, language and cultural values. In the first case, the formation social conflict, in the second - territorial.ethnic conflict, passing between ethnic groups - groups of people who have a common historical and cultural foundation and occupy a certain spatial area - this is a territorial conflict.
The whole complex of related problems is studied geographic conflictology - a scientific direction that explores the nature, essence, causes of conflicts, the patterns of their course and development based on interaction with spatial (geographical) factors. Geographical conflictology uses the knowledge of philosophy, history, sociology, jurisprudence, political science, psychology, ethnology, biology, economics, political geography and geopolitics, physical, economic and social geography.
Interethnic relations have the greatest complexity in multinational (polyethnic) states. In some - centralized some ethnic groups are so large that they are constantly at the center of socio-political life, dictate their own interests, put forward a standardized culture built on their own national-cultural foundation, and try to assimilate minorities. It is in such states that the greatest potential for conflict develops.
This model of interethnic relations dominates in Iran, Indonesia, Myanmar and a number of other countries. In some of them, the desire to consolidate the entire population of the country into a single nation on the foundation of a dominant ethnic group casts doubt on the very existence of other ethnic groups 1 .
At dispersed In a type of multinational state, the population consists of a small number of ethnic groups, each of which is too weak or small in number to dominate. As a result, the only option acceptable to all is the achievement of inter-ethnic harmony. Such a system has been formed, for example, in many African countries where an extremely heterogeneous ethnic composition is a legacy of colonial borders (Nigeria, Tanzania, Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, etc.).
Discrimination against national minorities can take various forms: restriction or even prohibition of the national language and culture, economic oppression, resettlement from ethnic territory, reduction of quotas for representation in state management structures, etc. In almost all countries of the East, the proportion of representatives of different ethnic groups in the power system is far from corresponds to the proportion of this ethnic group among the entire population. As a rule, the numerically predominant ethnic groups (Persians in Iran, Punjabis in Pakistan, Sinhalese in Sri Lanka, Malays in Malaysia, Burmese in Myanmar, etc.) at all levels of power have a disproportionately high representation, and most other ethnic groups have a disproportionately low .
Basic demands of most national movements involved in ethnic conflicts are reduced to three areas:
1) cultural revival (creation of broad cultural autonomy with the use of local governments and education of the native language);
2) economic independence (the right to dispose of natural resources and economic potential, localized within the ethnic territory);
3) political self-government (establishment of national self-government within the boundaries of an ethnic territory or part of it).
The range of requirements of these movements is determined by the degree of development and complexity of the structure of the ethnos, its internal social differentiation. Leaders of more “simple” ethnic communities that retain remnants of tribal relations usually come up with unambiguous demands for independence and/or the expulsion of all “outsiders”. For larger and more developed ethnic groups, the range of demands put forward is much wider: they are dominated by demands for cultural and national-territorial autonomy, economic independence and political self-government, which is confirmed, for example, by the situation in Catalonia.
difference confessional form of conflict formation from the ethnic one lies in the fact that it is not ethnic self-consciousness that comes to the fore here, but religious self-consciousness. It is not uncommon for opponents in a conflict to even belong to the same ethnic group. For example, adherents of Sikhism are ethnically Punjabis. They are in conflict with Hindu Punjabis (in India) and Muslim Punjabis (in Pakistan).
Conflict formation factors:
1. Religion has a significant impact on the entire culture of the ethnic group. Sometimes confessional differences play a decisive role in ethnogenesis. For example, Bosnians, Serbs and Croats living in Bosnia and Herzegovina speak the same language even before the ethnic cleansing of the first half of the 1990s. lived in stripes within a single area. It is possible that the Punjabi ethnic group, which still retains unity, will soon split along religious lines. At least now, Sikh Punjabis speak Punjabi, Hindu Punjabis speak Hindi, and Muslim Punjabis speak Urdu.
Palestine, Punjab, Kashmir, Southern Philippines (Moro Muslim regions) are the classic centers of ethnic conflicts with a pronounced dominant role of the religious factor. The religious component of the conflict is mixed with the ethnic one in Cyprus (Turkish Cypriot Muslims against Greek Cypriot Christians), Sri Lanka (Tamil Hindus against Sinhalese Buddhists), Northern Ireland (Irish Catholics against Protestants from England and Scotland) , in the Indian state of Nagaland (Naga Christians against the main population of India - Hindus), etc. There are, however, many hotbeds of conflicts where the warring parties are co-religionists: Catalonia, Transnistria, Balochistan, etc.
2. Closely interacts with ethno-confessional socio-economic factor. The dependence of the intensity of the conflict on the level of economic development cannot be unambiguously determined. There are centers of ethnic conflicts in the world, both relatively economically developed (Catalonia, Quebec, Transnistria) and economically depressed (Chechnya, Kosovo, Kurdistan, Chiapas, Corsica).
The motivation for the dissatisfaction expressed by an ethnic group with its economic situation can be different. Ethnic groups living in relative prosperity and well-being often show dissatisfaction with the established practice of unjustifiably high deductions from their region to the national budget. According to the leaders of these national movements, under the guise of declarations on the harmonious and balanced economic development of the country, the region is being robbed and funds are being transferred to “freeloader regions”.
The ethnic groups inhabiting economically lagging areas express claims that the governing structures or international organizations do not take into account the deplorable state of their economy, do not provide loans for its development, and do not see the needs of the ordinary population. Raising the bar for economic demands, which at times develops into direct economic blackmail, according to the calculations of the leaders of the conflicting ethnic group, can lead to a more profitable redistribution of budget funds, international assistance, and a fairer tax policy. Sometimes the parties to the conflict rely on non-traditional economic sources, such as income from smuggling various types of goods, including weapons and drugs, hostage-taking for ransom, extortion from fellow tribesmen who have achieved success in business.
The socio-economic factor plays an important role in the formation and development of the Basque conflict knot, which is clearly expressed in the Indian Assam and the Indonesian Irian Jaya.
3. In the processes of origin and evolution of ethnic conflicts, natural factor. Basically, its action is manifested in the form of natural boundaries, which often serve as barriers between neighboring ethnic groups, boundaries of interethnic clashes and wars. Mountain ranges, large rivers, sea straits, difficult land areas (deserts, swamps, forests) can serve as such natural boundaries.
On the one hand, natural borders reduce contacts between warring ethnic groups, which reduces the conflict of relationships, on the other hand, they contribute to the psychological alienation of ethnic groups living on opposite sides of the barrier. The natural accessibility of the territory determines the level of economic development. If the state does not have the welfare level of Switzerland, within which, by the way, there are a lot of various natural boundaries, then natural boundaries will lead to certain difficulties in contacts with some territories, which will negatively affect their economic development.
In comparison with other conflict-generating factors, natural boundaries are the least plastic and practically unchanged. In reality, it is only possible to slightly improve the connections between the opposite sides of the natural boundary (the construction of mountain and sea tunnels, the construction of bridges, the creation of sea and air routes, the transformation of deserts and tropical jungles, etc.), but it is hardly possible to completely eliminate differences in economic and geopolitical situations.
4. In the formation of large centers of ethnic conflicts, the role of geopolitical factor. The main form of its manifestation is the geopolitical faults between the extended civilizational-historical and military-political arrays.
A good example of this factor is the Balkan mega-conflict and its components - ethnic conflicts in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Western Macedonia, and Montenegro. The uniqueness of the Balkan knot lies in the fact that three geopolitical faults pass through it at once: between the Orthodox-Slavic and Islamic civilizations (currently the most conflict-prone), between the Orthodox-Slavic and European-Catholic civilizations, and between the European-Catholic and Islamic civilizations. Each of the three sides of the conflict node experiences a strong intervention of external forces. The US, UK, Germany and other NATO countries support Croats and Muslim peoples (Kosovo Albanians and Bosniaks). Orthodox Serbs, on the other hand, found themselves in fact isolated, since their traditional foreign policy patrons (including Russia) less persistently and consistently defend their interests in the international arena.
5. In every major ethnic conflict, the opposing sides respect collective interests, the development of which is possible only if there is organizing and managing entity. Such a subject can be a national elite, a more or less large public organization, armed formations, a political party, etc.
Such political organizations closely involved in the conflict exist in many countries of the world. These are, for example, the PKK in Turkish Kurdistan, the Tamil Eelam Liberation Tigers in the Tamil north of Sri Lanka, the Kosovo Liberation Army, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and others.
In developed parliamentary democracies, national movements act openly, freely participating in elections at various levels. However, some of the most extremist organizations, in respect of which their involvement in bloody crimes has been proven, are banned.
Such ethnocratic elites are formed mainly in three ways. First, the state-administrative nomenclature that existed under the previous regime can be transformed into a new national elite (examples: the majority of the CIS countries, the countries of the former Yugoslavia). Secondly, such an elite can be represented by a new nationalist intelligentsia (teachers, writers, journalists, etc.), who previously did not have power, but at a certain moment felt the possibility of acquiring it (the Baltic countries, Georgia). Thirdly, the ethnocratic elite can be formed from a conglomerate of warlords and mafia leaders fighting for national independence, as happened in Chechnya, Somalia, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Eritrea, Myanmar.
Sooner or later, among the ethnocratic elite, a leader of the national movement appears - such as, for example, Y. Arafat for Palestine or A. Ocalan for Kurdistan, concentrating in his hands all the forces involved in fulfilling the intended goals. The leader represents the interests of his movement at various levels, leads negotiations with the opposing side, achieves international recognition.
It is wrong, however, to absolutize the role of the leader in the process of the territory's struggle for sovereignty. Without a wide circle of like-minded people, a clear hierarchical party structure, and the support of the national elite, the leader remains a lone rebel.
6. Among the factors contributing to the development of separatism, it is impossible not to mention historical factor. If an ethnic group putting forward demands for self-determination or autonomy previously had its own statehood or self-governing institutions, then it has much more moral grounds to revive them. Largely for this reason, the Baltic republics of the former USSR throughout their existence were the area of the most clearly defined nationalist processes. Similar problems may now arise before the Russian Federation, a number of subjects of which, for example, Tyva, Dagestan (the latter in the form of fragmented feudal estates), previously had their own statehood. Examples are similar with Scotland within Great Britain and with Tibet within China.
7. None of the factors of separatism is of such decisive importance for the transition of the conflict from a latent to an actualized form, as social mobilization factor. Without the active participation of the population, any area of manifestation of disintegration tendencies is unlikely to have reason to become a hotbed of separatism. Under the mobilization of the population is understood the ability of certain political groups to take active steps to achieve their economic, political and national interests. The higher the political self-consciousness in a society, the higher its mobilization. The growth of mobilization also entails an increase in the political activity of the population, the indicators of which are an increase in the number of demonstrations, rallies, strikes, picketing and other political actions. As a result, high mobilization of the population can lead to destabilization of political life and even outbreaks of violence.
The level of mobilization in different social groups is usually not the same. Particularly irreconcilable positions regarding ways to resolve the conflict - extremism - dominate the marginalized sections of the population. It is in them that the lack of culture and education is felt; First of all, these social groups are most prone to partial or complete unemployment. (Marginals (from lat.margo - edge; located on the edge) - social group of the population, torn away from the usual conditions of life, breaking with the past, uncertain about the future, poorly oriented in the present, poorly provided for financially).
All the hotbeds of ethnic conflicts existing in the world were formed as a result of the combination of the above factors.
