Browsing by Subject "Ethnic Conflict"

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Open Access
Ethnic politics in international relations : the case of Volga Tatars
(2012) Türkmen, Hasan Selçuk
This thesis analyses an under-examined subject in the discipline of International Relations, ethnic politics, with reference to the case of Volga Tatars, the second largest ethnic group after Russians within the Russian Federation. Ethnicity is one of the phenomena that are at the core of International Relations. Its significance can be observed in debates on nation-state, identity, and international and internal conflicts. The phenomenon of ethnic politics transcends the traditional study of ethnicity in the discipline, which confines it to the study of conflicts. However, ethnicity is not conflictual by its nature and matters beyond conflict. Therefore, ethnic politics can significantly affect domestic and foreign policies of states, and for that matter the world politics at the global level. The very processes of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the establishment of the Russian Federation in general, and Volga Tatars in particular, represent a perfect microcosm of how ethnic politics is significant in international relations.
Open Access
Searching for power-sharing arrangements in the resolution of ethnic conflicts : the case of Kurdish conflict in Turkey
(2017-09) Fazlıoğlu, Ömer
Utilizing mixed-method design and multiple data sources (primarily three nationwide public opinion surveys and 113 semi-structured elite interviews), this study examines the power-sharing perspectives in the context of Turkey's Kurdish conflict. It raises two main sets of questions at both elite and mass levels: Who and to what extent does support power sharing arrangements in a multi-ethnic country? Which factors can explain the variance in ethnic group members’ and ethno-political elites’ varying support for power-sharing arrangements? This study shows that Turks and Kurds’ understandings of and interest-formulations with regard to the power-sharing remain irreconcilable both at the mass and elite levels. At the mass-level, the Turks' opposition to the Kurds' ever-growing power-sharing demands remain strong and constant across years. Regarding Kurdish mass support for power sharing, the findings of the multivariate analyses support the main propositions of the grievance theory, whereas they disprove the merits of ‘Muslim brotherhood’ – i.e., sharing an overarching religious identity - and socio-economic approaches. At the elite level, the Kurdish elites remain divided in terms of their outlook to the power-sharing arrangements due to their competing interest-formulations. Challenging the unitary actor assumption of the power-sharing theory, this study advocates that the devolution of power creates winners and losers within the peripheral ethnic groups and, thereby fosters intra-ethnic infighting. This thesis proposes a bi-dimensional re-formulation of power-sharing as a conflict-management tool: vertical dimension, overhauling the power structure between the central government and peripheral groups; and horizontal dimension, regulating the power structure between competing co-ethnic segments within the peripheral group. This thesis concludes that under current conditions power-sharing governance remains infeasible in the resolution of the Turkey's Kurdish conflict.