Suchergebnisse

A review essay on a book by Donald Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict (Berkeley & Los Angeles: U of California Press, 1985 [see listing in IRPS No. 46]). In this extensive, pathbreaking study, Horowitz presents a new social-psychological theory of ethnic conflict based on relative group worth. Each ethnic group struggles to protect its own symbolic status against dominance & suppression by others. Rejecting materialist & class-based theories of ethnic conflict, Horowitz also emphasizes the importance for ethnicity of legitimacy -- political recognition of a group's entitlement to inclusion in the polity. While this theoretical approach represents a seminal contribution, it appears excessively sweeping in scope. Some ethnic conflicts are essentially struggles over material resources rather than attempts to maintain or enhance symbolic status, as in the distribution of federal revenue in Nigeria. Despite his emphasis on the psychological roots of ethnic conflict, Horowitz discusses in depth the important role that political institutions can play in mitigating ethnic tensions, especially through federalism, devolution of power, & the encouragement of interethnic electoral coalitions & cross-cutting cleavages in the party system. AA

Belgium is one of several small European democracies that succeeded in fashioning a stable, progres sive regime in a society deeply divided by religious and socioeconomic differences. Not until recently did a massive ethno-cultural cleavage between Flemings, Walloons, and the French-speaking majority of the residents of the country's capital, Brussels, become politically salient. Long experi ence in managing societal divisions is not directly applicable to the ethnic cleavage. The response to the religious and ideological divisions had been to form cohesive institutions and practices among the leaders of the segments. The re sponse to the ethnic cleavage has been, in contrast, to de centralize: Belgium has moved from a unitary to a federal regime in the past decade. While this has constituted a peaceful and rational response to the ethnic cleavage until now, serious residual problems abound. Further, the rela tively favorable conditions under which decentralization was launched no longer obtain, clouding prospects for the achievement of a stable, mutually acceptable arrangement between the major contending groups.

Belgian parliamentary election returns (N = 143 cantons) & census data for 1961-1970 are analyzed to assess the relation between the support base of individual parties & the modernization level of the different regions, focusing on the status of nationalist vs unitarist parties. It is hypothesized that regional (ethnically defined) contrasts in sequence & rate of modernization have given rise to two forms of nationalism, one "cultural" & primarily based in Flanders, the other "economic" & centered in Wallonia, each reflecting nationalist party electoral support. While findings appear to support this hypothesis, they also indicate a less distinctively ethnic composition for each party as ethnic conflict escalated during this period. This development is interpreted in terms of (1) accommodative reactions on the part of established unitarian parties, & (2) attempts to widen the electoral support base within the nationalist parties themselves. 6 Tables. Modified HA.