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Ethnic Conflicts in South Asia

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  • Shibashis Chatterjee

    (Shibashis Chatterjee is Senior Lecturer, International Relations, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India.)

Abstract

This article is an attempt to employ the constructivism of Alexander Wendt to understand ethnic conflicts in South Asia. The article surveys the theoretical literature on constructivism to create a set of propositions regarding ethnic conflicts and attempts to test these propositions for several of South Asia's ethnic conflicts. The article argues that ethnic conflicts are essentially identity conflicts in which the definition or construction of threats, enemies and friends plays a pivotal role. Ethnic conflicts evolve according to how identities are defined, the definitions being predicated on the material condition facing the communities themselves in relation to the manifest practices of the state. In contrast to realist discourses that see only endless conflicts and an invariable security dilemma for groups, and liberalism that defines ethnic peace (or conflict) in terms of transaction costs and utility calculations, the constructivist reading of ethnicity enables International Relations to interrogate ethnicity in cultural-ideational terms. By using constructivist propositions to a select set of ethnic conflicts in South Asia, the article attempts to explain the salience of ethnicity as a pervasive mode of conflict in the subcontinent.

Suggested Citation

  • Shibashis Chatterjee, 2005. "Ethnic Conflicts in South Asia," South Asian Survey, , vol. 12(1), pages 75-89, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:soasur:v:12:y:2005:i:1:p:75-89
    DOI: 10.1177/097152310501200106
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wendt, Alexander, 1992. "Anarchy is what states make of it: the social construction of power politics," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(2), pages 391-425, April.
    2. Ruggie, John Gerard, 1998. "What Makes the World Hang Together? Neo-utilitarianism and the Social Constructivist Challenge," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(4), pages 855-885, October.
    3. Wendt, Alexander, 1994. "Collective Identity Formation and the International State," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 88(2), pages 384-396, June.
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