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Europe and Ethnicity: World War I and Contemporary Ethnic Conflict
The 1990s have seen an upsurge in ethnic tensions in many parts of Europe. Europe and Ethnicity suggests the main reasons are to be found in the decisions taken during the first world and at Versailles.
* An introductory chapter analyzes the context of the war with particular reference to regions and states where the national and ethnic questions were particularly complex and intransigent
* Subsequent chapters present case studies from arenas of Ireland to Yugoslavia; the Middle East to the Baltic states; Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
Europe and Ethnicity confirms the mixed legacy of the period for the ethnic stability of the areas examined, while taking into account the impact of the Second World War and the ending of the Cold War.
* An introductory chapter analyzes the context of the war with particular reference to regions and states where the national and ethnic questions were particularly complex and intransigent
* Subsequent chapters present case studies from arenas of Ireland to Yugoslavia; the Middle East to the Baltic states; Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
Europe and Ethnicity confirms the mixed legacy of the period for the ethnic stability of the areas examined, while taking into account the impact of the Second World War and the ending of the Cold War.
232 pages, Hardcover
First published August 29, 1996
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August 19, 2023
Written in 1996, we begin with the partition of Europe's old empires into new nation-states after the First World War and chase the dialectic of ethnic conflict through the rest of the 20th century. The essays on Yugoslavia, Ireland, Ukraine, and the Middle East (or rather the territories that once belonged to the Ottoman Empire) gripped me most thoroughly, though it's worth reading the essay on Hungary for some eyebrow-raising comments from that essay's author that I can only assume were meant to spark some ethnic conflict of their own.
In brief, the principle of self-determination for all nationalities was not - of course - pursued with terminal rigour. Europe's borders were to be redrawn along ethnic lines, yes, but not at the expense of the interests of the victors, nor in any way that would mean a triumph of the vanquished, nor was the logic of nationalism to be allowed to splinter Europe along every conceivable national claim (that, of course, would and will come later...). The process of national self-determination would not only be arrested by the realities of the international system, but (of course) the Second World War would also counteract the centrifugal forces disintegrating the existing empires and nation-states. In the absence of countervailing forces, the tendency is towards national divorce. The authors of this text expected the trend to continue, if not accelerate, with the collapse of Communism. History since 1996 has undeniably borne this out, though the disintegrative tendency that deterritorializes must compete with the imperial tendency that reterritorializes, as in the contemporary war in Ukraine. That the principle of self-determination has ambiguous validity can be noted through comparison with the far less spectacular suppression of the secession attempt in Catalonia circa 2017.
As a framework for understanding the long history of much of these proceedings, this book is highly stimulating, and easy to recommend.
In brief, the principle of self-determination for all nationalities was not - of course - pursued with terminal rigour. Europe's borders were to be redrawn along ethnic lines, yes, but not at the expense of the interests of the victors, nor in any way that would mean a triumph of the vanquished, nor was the logic of nationalism to be allowed to splinter Europe along every conceivable national claim (that, of course, would and will come later...). The process of national self-determination would not only be arrested by the realities of the international system, but (of course) the Second World War would also counteract the centrifugal forces disintegrating the existing empires and nation-states. In the absence of countervailing forces, the tendency is towards national divorce. The authors of this text expected the trend to continue, if not accelerate, with the collapse of Communism. History since 1996 has undeniably borne this out, though the disintegrative tendency that deterritorializes must compete with the imperial tendency that reterritorializes, as in the contemporary war in Ukraine. That the principle of self-determination has ambiguous validity can be noted through comparison with the far less spectacular suppression of the secession attempt in Catalonia circa 2017.
As a framework for understanding the long history of much of these proceedings, this book is highly stimulating, and easy to recommend.
Displaying 1 of 1 review