EthnopoliticsPub Date : 2022-05-19DOI: 10.1080/17449057.2022.2063479
E. Schatz
{"title":"Individualising Uncertainty: A Commentary on Anastasia Shesterinina's Mobilizing in Uncertainty","authors":"E. Schatz","doi":"10.1080/17449057.2022.2063479","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2022.2063479","url":null,"abstract":"Anastasia Shesterinina ’ s Mobilizing in Uncertainty (2021) represents a welcome shift in scholarship about mobilization for violence. Focusing on the Georgia-Abkhazia War of 1992 – 1993, Shesterinina challenges the assumption that people engage in cost – bene fi t cal-culations as they embark on a course of action for themselves and their families. Instead, as she shows, ordinary Abkhaz fi ltered information under conditions of uncertainty based upon their past experience. Her account is rich and compelling, and it owes its success in large part to the careful attention she pays to the voices of 142 interlocutors who were carefully selected during Shesterinina ’ s deeply impressive fi eldwork in Abkhazia. Mobilizing in Uncertainty in many ways is an interpretivist project par excellence . It is the meanings also social phenomena time abjure analysis, ’ s interpre-tivism thereby following in the footsteps of scholars like Her framework an individual ’ s ‘ collective fl ict identities, ’ shared understandings of ict the individual ’ s role the made under conditions play precision the if we take of the broad range of social meanings that individuals bring to on lives, ‘ ’ ex-ante ’","PeriodicalId":46452,"journal":{"name":"Ethnopolitics","volume":"22 1","pages":"108 - 111"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48956332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EthnopoliticsPub Date : 2022-05-18DOI: 10.1080/17449057.2022.2063480
J. Driscoll
{"title":"Mobilization in the Shadow of Probabilistic Military Assistance: A Commentary on Anastasia Shesterinina’s Mobilizing in Uncertainity","authors":"J. Driscoll","doi":"10.1080/17449057.2022.2063480","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2022.2063480","url":null,"abstract":"In Mobilizing in Uncertainty (2021), Anastasia Shesterinina curates a set of memories shared by Abkhaz community members. Respondents explain why they were willing to take such great risks in 1992 in their own words. The result is a locally-valid historical reconstruction leaning heavily on Abkhaz oral histories. It is provocative, beautifully crafted, destined to be translated into both Russian and Abkhaz, and brings something mar-velous to the fi eld. The case is a potent reminder that, sometimes, a month of focused political violence can freeze a map for decades. Because Abkhazia is such a dif fi cult place to access, most accounts of the ideological battles of the early 1990s are informed by materials found in libraries and by interviews conducted in Tbilisi. Meanwhile, however, life has gone on in a rump Abkhaz state. De-facto independence has been a social reality for 30 years. Shesterininina ’ s research design captures and ampli fi es the worldview of her core subjects: self-de fi ned Abkhaz patriots, currently living in Abkhazia. Her respondents remember a war of national liberation. She chose to live for a long time among residents of this unrecognized political organism. She asked a lot of her subjects. She earned their trust gradually. She makes it clear that Mobilization in Uncertainty stands on many shoulders: veterans that shared oral histories, countless deceased elementary school teachers and librarians who organized letter-writing campaigns in Soviet times, and more than one special archive that no other researcher will access. An Abkhaz nation is rei fi ed with survivalist traits in Shesterinina ’ s text: adaptive, creative, and stubborn.","PeriodicalId":46452,"journal":{"name":"Ethnopolitics","volume":"22 1","pages":"104 - 107"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43881776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EthnopoliticsPub Date : 2022-05-18DOI: 10.1080/17449057.2022.2063481
Anastasia Shesterinina
{"title":"Mobilizing in Uncertainty: A Response to Caspersen, Driscoll, and Schatz","authors":"Anastasia Shesterinina","doi":"10.1080/17449057.2022.2063481","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2022.2063481","url":null,"abstract":"Mobilizing in Uncertainty is a product of a deep commitment to individuals whose lives have been marked by fi rst-hand experiences of intergroup violence and war, to cumulative efforts across diverse disciplinary traditions to understand these experiences and their implications for social and political processes we study, and to methodologically rigorous research cen-tered on the meanings that participants in these processes attribute to their reality and grounded insights that can emerge as a result. The contributors to the Symposium picked up on these foundations. Their commentaries highlight the challenging fi eldwork and careful attention to the voices of ordinary people underlying this book and my openness about the design and process of research, including the changes that took place along the way. They also point out empirical and theoretical contributions of the book, identifying the reconstruction of events of Abkhaz mobilization in the context of Georgian-Abkhaz con- fl ict and the war of 1992 – 1993 in particular, the interaction of prewar shared understandings of con fl ict and one ’ s role in it and social networks at the time of mobilization, and the sig-ni fi cance of uncertainty in mobilization for war as the pillars of the book that can have inter-disciplinary purchase. I appreciate the generosity animating these commentaries. Caspersen ’ s, Driscoll ’ s, and Schatz ’ s critical engagement with the book also points to areas of clari fi cation, discussion, and future research. I will begin by clarifying the purpose of the book, particularly in response to Driscoll ’ s commentary. I will then turn to questions of ‘ ex-post ’ explanation raised by Caspersen and will conclude by accepting Schatz ’ s invitation to think further about the generalizability and extensions of this research.","PeriodicalId":46452,"journal":{"name":"Ethnopolitics","volume":"22 1","pages":"112 - 120"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42727548","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EthnopoliticsPub Date : 2022-05-18DOI: 10.1080/17449057.2022.2063477
Anastasia Shesterinina
{"title":"Mobilizing in Uncertainty: Collective Identities and War in Abkhazia","authors":"Anastasia Shesterinina","doi":"10.1080/17449057.2022.2063477","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2022.2063477","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this reflection, Anastasia Shesterinina introduces her new book, Mobilizing in Uncertainty: Collective Identities and War in Abkhazia (Cornell University Press, 2021). We invited Nina Caspersen at the University of York, Jesse Driscoll at the University of California, San Diego, and Edward Schatz at the University of Toronto to comment on the book. Their commentaries are followed by a response from the author.","PeriodicalId":46452,"journal":{"name":"Ethnopolitics","volume":"22 1","pages":"91 - 100"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44387718","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EthnopoliticsPub Date : 2022-05-18DOI: 10.1080/17449057.2022.2063478
Nina Caspersen
{"title":"Anastasia Shesterinina’s Mobilizing in Uncertainty: Collective Identities and War in Abkhazia","authors":"Nina Caspersen","doi":"10.1080/17449057.2022.2063478","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2022.2063478","url":null,"abstract":"‘ What drives people ’ s choices in civil wars: why do some people join war efforts, while other escape the fi ghting? This is the focus of Anastasia Shesterinina ’ s impressive new book, Mobilizing in Uncertainty: Collective Identities and War in Abkhazia (2021). Through a detailed analysis of the mobilisation of the Abkhaz population against the Georgian military intervention in 1992, the book examines how people navigate uncertainty to make mobilisation decisions in civil wars. the of Abkhazia, and makes clever of subnational variation in micro-comparative In a increasingly dominated by quantitative analysis, is much-needed of t of for the study of It demonstrates the value of political ethnography and the importance of analysing the micro-dynamics of civil wars.","PeriodicalId":46452,"journal":{"name":"Ethnopolitics","volume":"22 1","pages":"101 - 103"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45768258","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EthnopoliticsPub Date : 2022-05-03DOI: 10.1080/17449057.2022.2045828
Maxime Vandenberghe
{"title":"Power-Sharing and the Paradox of Federalism: Federalization and the Evolution of Ethno-Territorial Conflict in the Case of Belgium (1979–2018)","authors":"Maxime Vandenberghe","doi":"10.1080/17449057.2022.2045828","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2022.2045828","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Does federalism fuel tensions in divided states? This paper addresses this question from a power-sharing angle. It provides a longitudinal analysis of the evolution of ethno-territorial conflict during five waves of federalization in a least-likely case: Belgium (1979–2018). Two original datasets on all cabinet conflicts (N = 1013; N = 328) provide an unprecedented picture of ethno-territorial conflict’s intensity, nature, and frequency (absolute/relative). All indicators forcefully contradict the paradox thesis. Conflict did not increase. If anything, there is a tentative decline. Exposing intra-segmental and segmentally mixed conflicts, this study also challenges conventional views on factors like bipolarity and the repercussions of split party systems.","PeriodicalId":46452,"journal":{"name":"Ethnopolitics","volume":"22 1","pages":"485 - 506"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44896203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EthnopoliticsPub Date : 2022-05-02DOI: 10.1080/17449057.2022.2062861
Nasia Hadjigeorgiou, Dina Kapardis
{"title":"Police Cooperation in Cases of Unrecognised Secessions: The Joint Communications Room in Cyprus","authors":"Nasia Hadjigeorgiou, Dina Kapardis","doi":"10.1080/17449057.2022.2062861","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2022.2062861","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Since 1974 the Republic of Cyprus only exercises effective control in the south, while the unrecognised ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ exercises effective control in the north of the island of Cyprus. An increasing realisation among the two sides that effective policing requires the collaboration of their respective law enforcement agencies, led to the creation of the Joint Communications Room (JCR). The article frames the JCR as an example of engagement without recognition and assesses its effectiveness through an analysis of the cases it has been involved in between its creation in 2009 and 2018.","PeriodicalId":46452,"journal":{"name":"Ethnopolitics","volume":"22 1","pages":"527 - 549"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45666705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EthnopoliticsPub Date : 2022-03-29DOI: 10.1080/17449057.2022.2031509
Valery Dzutsati
{"title":"Explaining Diversionary Domestic Conflict: Inequality and Communitarianism in Russia","authors":"Valery Dzutsati","doi":"10.1080/17449057.2022.2031509","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2022.2031509","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Why do elites and ordinary individuals support targeting peripheral minorities? This study argues that high income inequality in the society and economic communitarianism among its population form the social basis for diversionary domestic conflict. When income inequality in society is high, the elites have an incentive to divert popular discontent toward peripheral minorities. High income inequality also raises the expectations for state assistance among the economically communitarian population strata, who tend to regard the minorities as a target for resource extraction. I test these conjectures using the case of Russia and Chechnya and find support for the proposed theory.","PeriodicalId":46452,"journal":{"name":"Ethnopolitics","volume":"22 1","pages":"290 - 314"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49603574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EthnopoliticsPub Date : 2022-02-23DOI: 10.1080/17449057.2022.2035513
Matthew I. Mitchell
{"title":"Indigenous Land Rights and Contentious Politics in Africa: The Case of Uganda","authors":"Matthew I. Mitchell","doi":"10.1080/17449057.2022.2035513","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2022.2035513","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article uses a case study of Uganda to examine the contentious politics surrounding Indigenous land rights in contemporary Africa, notably regarding the right to ‘free, prior and informed consent’ (FPIC). Drawing upon insights from recent fieldwork, it contrasts the diverse struggles of two of Uganda's most prominent Indigenous groups. Whereas the Batwa constitute a small group of (traditionally) hunter-gatherers from the southwestern District of Kisoro (and surrounding areas) who have low capacity to challenge the state, the Karamojong are a much larger group of agro-pastoralists from the northeastern region of Karamoja who have a long history of conflict and opposition to the central government. These cases highlight the diverging capacities of groups to protect their traditional lands, yet their shared struggle to secure both legal recognition as Indigenous and their right to FPIC from a hostile government. Given the obstacles facing these groups and the potential for FPIC to deepen cleavages between—and within—communities, the article concludes with some reflections for advancing the rights of Uganda's Indigenous peoples without enflaming the divisive identity politics that can accompany Indigenous land rights movements in certain political contexts.","PeriodicalId":46452,"journal":{"name":"Ethnopolitics","volume":"22 1","pages":"353 - 373"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46130211","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EthnopoliticsPub Date : 2022-02-22DOI: 10.1080/17449057.2022.2028385
Andrea Peinhopf
{"title":"Crossing the Conflict Divide: De facto Borders, State Belonging, and the Changing Dynamics of Enemy Relations in Abkhazia","authors":"Andrea Peinhopf","doi":"10.1080/17449057.2022.2028385","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2022.2028385","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Focusing on the motivations of ethnic Abkhazians travelling ‘to Georgia’, this article examines the changing dynamics of enemy relations and state belonging in the contest of contested, de facto statehood. Drawing on ethnographic data collected among ordinary Abkhaz, I argue that while it can be certain limitations of life in a de facto state that motivate people to cross the conflict divide, it is simultaneously their belonging to the Abkhazian state that equips them with the confidence to encounter the ‘enemy’. This challenges the assumption that de facto statehood is necessarily detrimental to peacebuilding, instead showing how it can facilitate ‘normal’ relations.","PeriodicalId":46452,"journal":{"name":"Ethnopolitics","volume":"22 1","pages":"253 - 270"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42020230","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}