POL 339-D100: Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict
Selected Topics in Comparative Politics
Department of Political Science, Simon Fraser University
Room: WMC 2202 (TuTh: 12:30-2:20)
Professor: Steven Weldon
Contact Information
Email: [email protected]
Office: AQ 6041
Phone: 778.782.4995
Office Hours
Thursday: 10:30-12:00,
or by appointment
Course Overview
The power of ethnicity as a basis of nationalist movements has become brutally evident in recent years.
Countries have been ripped apart and interethnic strife has erupted into bloody conflict around the globe,
including in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Palestine, India, Sri Lanka, and Chechnya. In other
countries like Canada and Belgium, while widespread violent conflict has been avoided, ethnicity
nonetheless plays a central role in structuring politics and social life.
This course examines this power of nationalism and ethnicity. We begin with an overview of nationalism,
including definitions of nation and nationalism, the historical emergence and sources of nationalist
movements, different types of nationalism, the role of national identity and citizenship policies, and the
close link between nationalism and ethnicity. We then move on to examine ethnic conflict, focusing on
the sources of ethnic conflict and potential solutions to this problem.
Required Books:
1. Anderson, Benedict (1982). Imagined Communities. Verso Press.
2. Wilkinson, Tim (2004). Votes and Violence. Cambridge.
3. All other readings can be downloaded from library online journal subscriptions and/or the course
website on WebCT.
Course Requirements:
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Response Papers----------------------------------- 30%
Midterm Examination---------------------------- 20%
Paper ------------------------------------------------ 25%
Final Examination -------------------------------- 25%
Students are expected to come to class prepared. Each student will bring a response paper related to
the reading once a week (on either all Tuesdays or all Thursdays). These response papers will be one
page in length, typed and double spaced. The first half will outline the main arguments of the reading
and the second half will provide either an illustration with an example, a comparison with another
reading, or offer some other insight into the day’s topic. The student will also think of one discussion
question related to the reading. The summaries and discussion questions are intended to stimulate
conversation in class. They will be collected at the end of each class and will count as 30% of your final
grade.
The midterm and final examinations will be composed of short answer and essay questions. The
midterm will be held on October 22nd and the final will be in the exam period.
The paper for the class will require the application and testing of one or more theories from the course
to real cases of nationalist movements, ethnic conflict, or multiculturalism. Students may employ either
qualitative or quantitative methods in the paper – the important point is that it needs to be a research
paper, not simply an historical overview of case(s) or a traditional (argumentative) essay. It is expected
to be about 10-12 pages in length. Students will give a 5 minute presentation of their paper in the final
week of the course. We will discuss this assignment in more detail later in the term.
Policy on Late Papers/Assignments
The due dates of all assignments are stated clearly – failure to submit the paper by the due date,
without a valid written reason beforehand, will result in the loss of 10% of the assignment’s value for
each day beyond the due date. If your paper is late, it must be submitted to the Political Science main
office. All summaries and discussion questions must be submitted in person in class at the end of the
hour.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism involves using another author’s words without attribution or otherwise presenting another
person’s work as one’s own. It is a fraudulent and serious academic offence that will result in a severe
academic penalty. Also, close paraphrasing of another author’s work & self-plagiarism, including
submitting the same, or substantively the same, work for academic evaluation more than once, are
unacceptable practices.
The university policies on academic honesty are available at http://www.sfu.ca/policies/teaching/t1002.htm and http://www.sfu.ca/policies/teaching/t10-03.htm.
The Department of Political Science’s interpretation of this policy can be found at
http://www.sfu.ca/politics/undergrad/ug_plag_pol.html,
and is available in hard copy format outside our General Office. All students are responsible for
familiarising themselves with these policies.
A helpful SFU Library tutorial on plagiarism is at
http://www.lib.sfu.ca/researchhelp/tutorials/interactive/plagiarism/tutorial/introduction.htm
The DOs and DON’Ts of AVOIDING PLAGIARISM
Do not:
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submit an entire paper or part(s) of a paper or papers that has been written or researched by any
other person(s);
submit a paper as an assignment that has been bought from another person or from a ‘paper mill’
or essay service;
submit a paper or other written assignment that has been submitted at another time or for a
different course by yourself or any other student or former student;
submit material that has been downloaded from a website, without acknowledging (using
appropriate citation style) that you have done so;
take someone else’s idea(s) and represent it/them as your own;
copy any text verbatim, or with only slight variation from the original text, without using quotation
marks and documenting the source with proper citation style;
do not closely paraphrase another’s material; either paraphrase completely in your own words, or
cite as a direct quotation using quotation marks (in either case, give full credit and details regarding
authorship and location of the original material);
Do:
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learn how to cite material properly (there are many good guides on this, including the
departmental one);
use a recognized citation style (eg. APA, MLA, Chicago), according to instructions given by the
course instructor, and be consistent in the use of the style throughout any single piece of written
work;
carefully read and make sure you understand the university’s policy on academic honesty;
ask the instructor of this course or other faculty members if you have any questions about
plagiarism.
Class Schedule and Reading List
Week 1: Introduction
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Sept. 8: Introduction to Course
Sept. 10: NO CLASS
Part I: Nations and Nationalism
Week 2: What is ethnicity? What is a nation?
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Sept. 15: What is ethnicity?
o Weber, “The Origins of Ethnic Groups”
o Geertz, “Primordial Ties”
o Van den Berghe, “Does Race Matter?”
o Fishman, “Ethnicity as Being, Doing and Knowing”
Sept. 17: What is a nation? (Primordialist vs. Constructivist)
o Anderson (Chapter 1)
o
Renan, Stalin, Weber, Deutsch, and Connor: (pp. 15-46)
Week 3: Nationalist Movements
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Sept. 22: Why Nations? Why at this time?
o Anderson (Chapters 2 and 3, pp. 37-66)
Sept. 24: Creole and Vernacular Movements
o Anderson (Chapters 4 and 5, pp. 47-82)
Week 4: Official and Colonial Nationalism
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Sept. 29: Official and Colonial Nationalism
o Anderson (Chapters 6 and 7, pp. 83-140)
Oct. 1: Racism and Revolutions
o Anderson (Chapters 8-10, pp. 141-186)
Part II: Nations and Citizenship in the Modern World
Week 5: Nationalist Ideologies and Citizenship
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Oct. 6: Ethnic vs. Civic
o Safran, William. 1997. “Citizenship and Nationality in Democratic Systems: Approaches
to Defining and Acquiring Membership in the Political Community,” International
Political Science Review 18(3): 313-35.
o Kymlicka, Will. 2003. “Immigration, Citizenship, Multiculturalism: Exploring the Links,”
The Political Quarterly, vol. 74(s1): 195-208.
Oct. 8: Identity – Bringing in Individuals
o Chandra, Kanchan, 2006. “What is Ethnic Identity and Does it Matter?” Annual Review of
Political Science, 9: 397-424.
o Brewer, Marilyn (1999). “The Psychology of Prejudice: Ingroup Love or Outgroup Hate?”
Journal of Social Issues, 55(3): 429-444.
Week 6: Identity, Political Community and Democratic Values
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Oct. 13: Identity, Tolerance, and Citizenship
o de Figueiredo,Rui, and Zachary Elkins. 2003. “Are Patriots Bigots?” American Journal of
Political Science 47 (1): 171–88.
o Weldon, Steven. 2006. “The Institutional Context of Tolerance for Ethnic Minorities: A
Comparative, Multilevel Analysis of Western Europe,” American Journal of Political
Science, Vol. 50(2): 328-46.
Oct. 15: European Union and Making of a (New) Political Community?
o Mayer, Franz and Jan Palmowski. 2004. “European Identities and the EU—The ties that
bind the peoples of Europe,” Journal of Common Market Studies, Vol. 42 (3): 573-98.
o
Hooghe, Liesbet and Gary Marks. 2008. “A Postfunctionalist Theory of European
Integration: From Permissive Consensus to Constraining Dissensus,” British Journal of
Political Science, Vol. 39(1): 1-23.
Week 7: MIDTERM EXAM
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Oct. 20: Midterm Review
Oct. 22: Midterm Exam
Part III: Ethnicity and Ethnic Conflict
Week 8: Causes of Ethnic Conflict I
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Oct. 27: Primordial and Grievances
o Huntington, Samuel, 1993. “Clash of Civilizations?” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 72(3): 22-49.
o Gurr, Ted Robert. 1993. “Why Minorities Rebel: A Global Analysis of Communal
Mobilization and Conflict since 1945,” International Political Science Review, Vol. 14(2):
161-201.
Oct. 29: Instrumentalist
o Fearon, James and David D. Laitin, 2003. “Ethnicity, Insurgency and Civil War,” American
Political Science Review, Vol. 97(1): 75-90.
o Collier, Paul, and Anke Hoeffler. 2004. “Greed and Grievance in Civil Wars,” Oxford
Economic Papers 56 (October): 563–95.
Week 9: Causes of Ethnic Conflict II
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Nov. 3: Revisiting Link Between Ethnicity and Civil War
o Cederman, Lars-Erik and Luc Girardin. 2007. “Beyond Fractionalization: Mapping
Ethnicity onto Nationalist Insurgencies,” American Political Science Review, Vol. 101(1):
173-85.
o Fearon, James, Kimuli Kasara and David Laitin. 2007. “Ethnic Minority Rule and Civil War
Onset,” American Political Science Review, Vol. 101(1): 187-94.
Nov. 5: Instrumentalism and The Salience of Ethnic Difference
o Posner, Daniel. 2004. “The Political Salience of Cultural Difference: Why Chewas and
Tumbukas are Allies in Zambia and Adversaries in Malawi,” American Political Science
Review, Vol. 98(4): 529-45.
o Varshney, Ashutosh. 1997. “Postmodernism, civic engagement and ethnic conflict: a
passage to India,” Comparative Politics, Vol. 30(1): 1-20.
Week 10: Votes and Violence I
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Nov. 10:
o Wilkinson, Chapters 1 and 2
Nov. 12:
o
Wilkinson, Chapters 3 and 4
Week 11: Votes and Violence II
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Nov. 17:
o Wilkinson, Chapters 5 and 6
Nov. 19:
o Wilkinson, Chapters 7 and 8
Week 12: Solutions to Ethnic Conflict
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Nov. 24: Electoral Solutions
o Horowitz, Donald. 1993. “Democracy in Divided Societies,” Journal of Democracy, Vol. 4:
18-38.
o Lijphart, Arend. 2004. “Constitutional Design for Divided Societies,” Journal of
Democracy, Vol. 15(2): 96-109.
o Elkins, Zachary and John Sides, 2007. “Can Institutions Build Unity in Multiethnic
States?” American Political Science Review, Vol. 101(4): 693-708.
Nov. 26: Partition Solutions
o Chapman, Thomas and Philip G. Roeder, 2007. “Partition as a Solution to Wars of
Nationalism: The Importance of Institutions,” American Political Science Review, Vol.
101(4): 677-92.
o Dion, Stephane. 1996. “Why Secession is Difficult in Well-Established Democracies:
Lessons from Quebec,” British Journal of Political Science, Vol. 26(2): 269-83.
Week 13: Student Presentations and Review
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Dec. 1:
Dec. 3: