ETHNIC CONFLICTS IN 1980S-1990S.   Term Paper ID:22840 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines causes & effects of political & military struggles in Bosnia, Pakistan, Kosovo (a province in Serbia).... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines causes & effects of political & military struggles in Bosnia, Pakistan, Kosovo (a province in Serbia). Paper Introduction: THE ROLE OF ETHNICITY IN CONTEMPORARY CONFLICTS According to one observer, animosity among ethnic groups in the global context “is beginning to rival the spread of nuclear weapons as the most serious threat to peace that the world faces.” While conflicts based in ethnic tensions tend to be localized in setting, the implications for world peace typically have a much wider scope. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as an example has had, thus far, “little immediate impact on relations among the great powers, but much larger consequences could flow from the tensions rising between the Russian Republic and the Baltic states. If Russia were to move militarily to protect its co-nationals in Estonia or Latvia, where they are now being mistreated, a cold peace would develop between Moscow and Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The arrival of Afghan refugees in the 198 s added to the volatiledemographic situation in Karachi whose citizens associated the drug andarms Mafia of the city's street with these new refugees, most of whom werePathans.[xii] The "easy availability of arms made the ethnic clashes moredeadly, and since the first clashes . Easier access to armslicenses for Muhajirs were demanded to counter the armed Pathans. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1985."The Impossible Future of Kosovo." Economist 325 (24 October 1992): 54."Intifada in the Balkans." Economist 311 (1 April 1989): 4 -41.Karim, M. [xiv]Ibid. [iii]Ibid., 3-4. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Both Greece and Turkey are members of NATO (NorthAtlantic Treaty Organization). "Containing Ethnic Conflict." Foreign Policy, (Spring 1993): 3-21.McDowall, L. On 28 March 1989, the Serbian Republic acted unilaterally toreintegrate Kosovo.[xvii] Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo protested, and 3 oftheir leaders were jailed. Thus, an escalation and a spread of theethnic-based conflict in Kosovo conceivably could have global implications. W. Regardless of the seriousness of ethnic-based conflict (or perhapsbecause of the seriousness of such conflict), solutions continue to belargely unattainable.[xxi] In searching for solutions, diplomats mustrecognize that satisfactory answers have never been developed for ethnic-based crises and conflicts. The estimate is that approximately 25 , people, mostly from Punjab and the North West Frontier Province, move toKarachi each year. [vii]D. The ethnic Albaniansestablished their own schools that met in private homes. . The Bozur action steeled the resolve of the ethnic Albanians inKosovo to the actions of the Serbs at all levels of government. [ix]Ibid. The ethnicAlbanian goals were independence within Kosovo's existing borders, withequal rights for the province's Serb minority. [xvi]"The Kosovo Knot," Economist 3 8 (2 August 1988): 4 . [xxii]Ibid., 999. [xi]M. The majority of these new migrants are in their 2 s andare competing in the labor market.[xi] The Punjabi and Pathan migrationhas added to the Muhajir perception of becoming marginalized. "In this century, when two or more populationshave been reluctant to live with one another in a single state, the optionsopen to the international community have turned out to be eitherunconscionable or unpalatable: ethnic cleansing, repression, partition, orpower sharing. [x]Ibid., 997. Themajority of Kosovo's population is ethnic Albanian, and the level ofconflict between the ethnic Albanians and Serbian minority in Kosovo alwayshas been high. [xix]"The Next Balkan Explosion?" Economist 324 (1 August 1992): 39. Despite thehuman costs, Poland and the Czech Republic are more stable today becausethey were permitted to eject their German minorities. "Karachi's Demographic Dilemma." Friday Magazine, 27 February 1987, 1-2."The Kosovo Conundrum." Economist 315 (28 April 199 ): 58."The Kosovo Knot." Economist 3 8 (2 August 1988): 4 -41.Maynes, C. They are descendants of theIllyrians of Roman times, and their language, written in the Latinalphabet, is unrelated to Serbo-Croatian. The ethnic Albanianresponse was one of passive resistance. "Rise of the MQM in Pakistan: Politics of Ethnic Mobilization." Asian Survey, 35 (November 1995): 99 -1 4.Horowitz, D. Kosovo was an "autonomous province" attached to Yugoslavia's SerbianRepublic prior to the disintegration of Yugoslavia.[xvi] In 1988,Yugoslavia's collective presidency granted special powers to the federalpolice unit in Kosovo Province on the ground that security in the provincehad deteriorated seriously. Bozur's goal was a 5 -5 ethnic split inKosovo. Maynes, "Containing Ethnic Conflict," Foreign Policy, (Spring1993): 3. [xii]Haq, 997. Butin the last two decades, they have felt overwhelmed by the increasedmigration of Punjabis and Pathans to Karachi, a changing demographic trendthat has deepened their anxieties."[ix] From 1947 to 1981, the overall population of Pakistan increased 25 percent, while urban population growth increased almost 4 percent."[x]Karachi became a magnet for migrants from other areas of Pakistan as wellas elsewhere in South Asia. [xviii]"The Kosovo Conundrum," Economist 315 (28 April 199 ): 58. Haq, "Rise of the MQM in Pakistan: Politics of EthnicMobilization," Asian Survey, 35 (November 1995): 99 -1 4. [ii]Ibid. But at the personal and community level such exchanges areexceedingly cruel and they were only tolerated because the wars theyfollowed had set new standards of cruelty. McDowall, "Confused Signals in Kosovo," New Statesman & Society6 (5 March 1993): 12-13. The non-Serbian republics of the Yugoslavian federation, cognizantof Serb dominance of Yugoslavia prior to the Second World War, however,were wary and reluctant to approve such a change. Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict (Berkeley, California:University of California Press, 1985), 214. Of the four, ethnic cleansing ironically appears the mostpolitically effective, albeit the most morally reprehensible. [xx]"The Impossible Future of Kosovo," Economist 325 (24 October1992): 54. were between Pathans and BihariMuhajirs from Bangladesh," the Afghans were identified by the Muhajirs asthe primary source of instability in Karachi. In such aneventuality, both Greece and Turkey might then be drawn into the conflict-on different sides. [xiii]Ibid., 998. Further,the Muhajirs demanded that all Afghan refugees be moved to camps near theborder. A total of 2 ethnic Albanians were killed byfederal police in the quelling of riots. [xv]L. Because of the in-migration during the 198 s and 199 s, Karachi andother urban areas in Sindh have experienced a great upsurge in populationand a growing demand for housing, transportation, electricity, water,education, and employment that a deteriorating infrastructure has not beenable to provide.[xiii] The "relative drop in the socioeconomic status ofthe Muhajirs" together with the demographic changes in the Pakistanisociety created "fertile ground for ethnic mobilization of the Urdu-speaking community in urban Sindh."[xiv] The tension between the ethnic Albanians and the Serbs in the SerbianProvince of Kosovo provide another relevant illustration of simmeringconflict based in ethnicity.[xv] Kosovo's population of almost two millionis 9 percent ethnic Albanian, and an additional one million ethnicAlbanians live in adjoining Macedonia and Montenegro and in three adjacentenclaves in Serbia proper. The federal government ofYugoslavia contended that the riots were a part of a move to join KosovoProvince with the Republic of Albania. If Russia were to move militarily to protect its co-nationals inEstonia or Latvia, where they are now being mistreated, a cold peace woulddevelop between Moscow and its Western partners. "Confused Signals in Kosovo." New Statesman & Society 6 (5 March 1993): 12-13.----------------------- [i]C. Kosovo was Yugoslavia's poorest region. S. . [vi]Ibid., 995. Many of the hopes for anew, more cooperative world would dim."[ii] There are a substantial number of ethnic-based conflicts in progressor simmering near to the boiling point in the 199 s.[iii] While adult inthe Western world who is not brain-dead is aware of the ethnic-basedconflict in Bosnia involving the Croats, Muslims, and Serbs, only arelatively small proportion of these adults are aware of the simmeringconflict within Serbia's Kosovo Province that involves ethnic Albaniansand Serbs. While the Kosovo ethnic Albanians retain aMuslim influence from five centuries of Ottoman Turkish occupation, theyare not Slavs, unlike the Bosnian Muslims. L. Serbia doubled the Serb police presence in Kosovo, banned all publicgatherings.[xviii] Bozur, a Serb nationalist group based in Kosovo Polje,just outside the provincial capital Pristina, began pursuing plans torepopulate Kosovo with Serbs who left the province subsequent to theAlbanian uprisings in 1981. So are Greece andTurkey after they carried out massive exchanges of populations in the192 s. W. The ethnic Albanians attempted toestablish their own separate society in Kosovo. The world today will rightly bemuch less tolerant of a state demanding the right to ethnic purity."[xxii] ENDNOTES BIBLIOGRAPHYHaq, F. In 1981 the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo rioted whiledemanding that Kosovo be made a full republic of the Yugoslav federation.By the summer of 1988, the ethnic Serb minority in Kosovo was seekingprotection from the ethnic Albanians through intervention by the Serb-dominated federal government of Yugoslavia. The ethnic Albanians in Kosovo want self-determination, just as do theSerbs in Croatia and Bosnia.[xx] The opinion of the ethnic Albanians wasthat a greater Albania was as justifiable as the greater Serbia beingpursued by Serbs in both Serbia and in non Serb republics in theYugoslavian federation. [iv]Ibid., 4. L. The actions by Serbia and thefederal government widened the gulf between Serbia and the Muslim-dominatedrepublics in the Yugoslavian federation. Albania has announced that it will act in the event of aconflict between the Albanian majority in Kosovo and Serbia. The position of the ethnicAlbanians, however, was that, just as the internal borders of Yugoslaviabecame international borders when disintegration occurred, so to willSerbia's internal borders be transformed into international borders.Serbia, however, likely will not give up Kosovo peacefully. To Serb nationalists, Kosovo, the heart of the medieval Serbianempire, is their holiest shrine.[xix] Subsequent to Serbia's reintegrationof Kosovo, ethnic Albanians were systematically fired from their jobs.Lecturers and professors at Pristina University were fired, together withthousands of school teachers and factory workers. [v]F. Karim, "Karachi's Demographic Dilemma," Friday Magazine, 27February 1987, 1. In 1992, however, the position of both Westernnations and the Russian and Ukrainian republics of the Former Soviet Unionwas that, as Kosovo is constitutionally part of Serbia, its secession willnever get the blessing of the outside world. S. [xxi]Maynes, 1 11. The conflict between Armenia andAzerbaijan, as an example has had, thus far, "little immediate impact onrelations among the great powers, but much larger consequences could flowfrom the tensions rising between the Russian Republic and the Balticstates. [xvii]"Intifada in the Balkans," Economist 311 (1 April 1989): 4 . "Afghanistan is a cauldron of ethnic and religious hatred," and thatcountry is beset with ethnic-based conflict.[iv] During the years when theSoviet-backed government in Afghanistan was in power, however, many Afghansfled to neighboring Pakistan as refugees, where in the 199 s a major ethnic-based conflict is brewing between Afghans and Pakistani.[v] As the contemporary situation in Pakistan illustrated, internal andexternal migration has increasingly become an important variable incultural politics, "especially affecting the more backward groups in manyThird World societies."[vi] "Backward-indigenous groups feel under siegein their own home."[vii] One of the most important claims to legitimacy inethnic conflict is based on claims of indigenousness."[viii] Incontemporary Pakistan, as an example, migrating "from the Muslim minorityprovinces of the Subcontinent, the Urdu-speaking Muhajirs were urbanizedand generally literate, and became the 'achieving minority' in Sindh. The Muhajirhave demanded that only those persons living in Sindh for the last 2 yearsbe granted domiciled status, that the non-domiciled not have the fight tovote or be granted business permits and licenses, and that non-domiciledpersons not be allowed to buy property in Sindh. The 1 percent ethnic Serbminority in Kosovo demanded that the autonomous province be fullyreintegrated into Serbia, and the government of the Serbian Republicagreed. THE ROLE OF ETHNICITY IN CONTEMPORARY CONFLICTS According to one observer, animosity among ethnic groups in the globalcontext "is beginning to rival the spread of nuclear weapons as the mostserious threat to peace that the world faces."[i] While conflicts based inethnic tensions tend to be localized in setting, the implications for worldpeace typically have a much wider scope. [viii]Haq, 996. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.