Local governments and their leaders face many challenges nowadays. One of the most striking challenges is peaceful cohabitation of members of different ethnic or national groups in spatially bounded/limited areas. While in some cases it is a long-term cohabitation, in other cases the cohabitation is rather recent due to various migration processes. However, the conflicts in both cases are often similar in terms of their nature as well as outputs. I would like to become more familiar with the relevant research aimed at a role or impact of local political leadership in resolution of ethnic conflicts, and therefore I would like to ask for some recommendations.
Dear Daniel Klimovský,
The following/ attached references may be of interest.
Kind regards,
Paul Chaney
Norton, R. (2015) The Troubled Quest for National Political Leadership in Fiji, The Round Table, Volume 104, Number 2, 4 March 2015, pp. 113-125. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2015.1017258
Fitzduff, M. (2015) Building Peace in a Complex World, Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Volume 2015, Number 58, June 2015, pp. 31-34. http://dx.doi.org/10.9774/GLEAF.4700.2015.ju.00004
Mabokela, R. and Madsen, J. (2005) ‘Color-blind' and ‘color-conscious' leadership: A case study of desegregated suburban schools in the USA, International Journal of Leadership in Education, Volume 8, Number 3, July-September 2005, pp. 187-206. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13603120500107313
Tabar, P., Noble, G., and Poynting, S. (2003) The rise and falter of the field of ethnic politics in Australia: the case of Lebanese community leadership, Journal of Intercultural Studies, Volume 24, Number 3, December 2003, pp. 267-287 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0725686032000172605
Wilson, C. (2013) 'Ethnic outbidding' for patronage: the 2010 riots in Tarakan, Indonesia, South East Asia Research, Volume 21, Number 1, March 2013, pp. 105-129. http://dx.doi.org/10.5367/sear.2013.0135
Saikia, Smitana (2015) General elections 2014: ethnic outbidding and politics of ‘homelands’ in Assam's Bodoland, Contemporary South Asia, Volume 23, Number 2, 3 April 2015, pp. 211-222
Jönsson, J. (2007) The Overwhelming Minority: Traditional Leadership and Ethnic Conflict in Ghana’s Northern Region, Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity, CRISE, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford
Szayne, T. (2000) Identifying potential ethnic conflict: application of a process model, Santa Monica, RAND.
Dear Paul, Thank you very much for your swift and valuable answer. I appreciate your recommendations a lot. Best regards, Daniel
Thank you very much, dear Veronica, for your answer. It is both very useful and interesting - as usual answers from you. Best wishes, Daniel
It is a bit old,. but do not forget about LGI-OSI works on related issues
Thanks for reminder, Pawel. I have kept in my mind especially the Macedonian case. Best wishes, Daniel
it is not focused on local level but look at: "Nation-buliding, ethnicity and language politics in transition countries", "Minority governance in Europe". It has some local dimension as well.
Thank your very much, dear Pawel. I will definitely check it. Best, Daniel
I was intending to do some research in this area, but have not got the time yet. It will be a good area for research.
Interesting how everyone here takes for granted the imposed diversification upon Western societies by way of mass immigration. There is an awareness that ethnic conflict is real, but amazingly enough all scholars think of ethnic conflict as something that can be resolved through a few policy papers, while at the same time being blinded to the sources of ethnic conflict, which is the different ethnic interests of groups. The fact is that ethnic conflict will increase dramatically in all European created nations through mass immigration, so the way to address this issue is to address the question of immigration,.
As Western societies become diversified through mass immigration, they will experience ethnic conflict. Only whites tend to think less in terms of ethnic group interests, which is why they think, naive liberals, that they can import hordes of non-Europeans and no ethnic conflict will happen; in fact, they think that the way to overcome ethnic conflict is to import millions of immigrants, which is insane.
Some may be familiar with the work of Robert Putnam, released in 2007, based on detailed interviews of nearly 30,000 people across America, which concluded that racial and ethnic diversity is NOT a civic strength, does NOT encourage "social networking", but instead results in a depressive climate in which people "hunker down" in their homes,with fewer people voting and giving to charity and working on community projects.
There is a growing literature showing that democratic participation, including social trust, community participation, is fast declining in Western societies as both the left and the right establishment implement mass immigration and multiculturalism:
Eibl-Eibesfeldt, I. (2004). Ethnicity, the problem of differential altruism, and international multiculturalism. In F. Salter (Ed.), Welfare, ethnicity, and altruism: New findings and evolutionary theory (pp. 283-291). London: Frank Cass.
Sanderson, S. K. (2004). Ethnic heterogeneity and public spending: Testing the Evolutionary Theory of Ethnicity with cross-national data. In F. Salter (Ed.), Welfare, ethnicity, and Altruism: New findings and evolutionary theory (pp. 74-87). London: Frank Cass.
Schubert, N. J., & Tweed, M. J. (2004). Ethnic diversity, population size, and charitable giving at the local level in the United States. In F. Salter (Ed.), Welfare, ethnicity and altruism: New findings and evolutionary theory (pp. 53-73). London: Frank Cass.
Ahlerup, P. (2009). The causal effects of ethnic diversity: An instrumental variables approach. Working Papers In Economics No. 386, University of Gothenburg.
Andreoni, J., Payne, A., Smith, J. D., & Karp, D. (2011). Diversity and donations: The effect of religious and ethnic diversity on charitable giving. NBER Working Paper No. 17618.
Boustan, L. P. (2010). Was postwar suburbanization “white flight”?: Evidence from black migration. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 125(1), 417-443.
Das-Munshi, J., Bécares, L., Boydell, J. E., Dewey, M. E., Morgan, C., Stansfeld, S. A., & Prince, M. J. (2012). Ethnic density as a buffer for psychotic experiences: Findings from a national survey (EMPIRIC). The British Journal of Psychiatry, 201, 282-290.
Dincer, O. C., & Wang, F. (2011). Ethnic diversity and economic growth in China. Journal of Economic Policy Reform, 14(1), 1-10.
Duffy, B. (2004). Life satisfaction and trust in other people (MORI Report 2004 March). London: MORI Social Research Institute.
Faist, T. (1995). Ethnicization and racialization of welfare-state politics in Germany and the USA. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 18(2), 219-250.
Glaeser, E. L., & Saks, R. E. (2006). Corruption in America. Journal of Public Economics, 90, 1053–1072.
Lassen, D. D. (2007). Ethnic divisions, trust, and the size of the informal sector. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 63, 423-438.
Li, S. X. (2010). Social identities, ethnic diversity, and tax morale. Public Finance Review, 38(2), 146-177.
Miguel, E., & Gugerty, M. K. (2005). Ethnic diversity, social sanctions, and public goods in Kenya. Journal of Public Economics, 89, 2325-2368.
Montalvo, J. G., & Reynal-Querol, M. (2005). Ethnic diversity and economic development. Journal of Development Economics, 76(2), 293-323.
Okten, C., & Osili, U. O. (2004). Contributions in heterogenous communities: Evidence from Indonesia. Journal of Population Economic, 17, 603-626.
Vanhanen, T. (2014). Ethnic nepotism as a cross-cultural background factor of ethnic conflicts. Open Journal of Political Science, 4, 143-155.
Dear Ricardo, Thanks a lot for sharing other perspective, as well as for interesting comments. If I have understood you correctly, your point is linked rather to cultural nature of ethnic conflicts. Which cultural element do you consider the most crucial in regard to those conflicts? Is it religion? And do you think that political leadership is important in order to solve those conflicts? Best regards, Daniel