(1) ethnically homogeneous states have never been common;
(2) ethnicity has always been fluid with respect to identity, boundaries, cultural content, and membership;
(3) ethnic processes cannot be understood without careful consideration of their interstate, or world-systemic, context;
(4) contemporary ethnic conflicts have contemporary roots;
(5) the differnces between the contemporary and ancient world need further study;
(6) the origin of the ideal of the ethnically homogeneous state and shifts in ethnic processes in the 20th century lack adequate explanation.
BIOGRAPHICAL: Thomas D. Hall is Lester M. Jones Professor of Sociology and Director of Conflict Studies at DePauw University. He is author of _Social Change in the Southwest, 1350-1880 (1989, Kansas) and along with Christopher Chase-Dunn he is author of _Rise and Demise: Comparing World-Systems (1997 Westview). email: thall@depauw.edu; URL: http://www.depauw.edu/~thall/hp1.htm
Majid Tehranian: Globalism, Localism, and Islamism: The Dialectics of Migration and Identity
Ibn Khaldun, a 14th century Islamic historian and perhaps the first world system theorist, viewed history as a continuing struggle for hegemony between sedentary and nomadic populations. He thus provided an ingenious explanation for the rise and fall of successive dynasties in the Islamic world. This essay argues that with some modification, his perspective may also explain some of the major trends of our own times, namely globalization, localization, and mobilization cum migration.
The rise of National Capitalism led to large-scale immigration to the New World and colonization of many parts of the Old World. Similarly, Global Pancapitalism has been creating two new types of nomadic populations. At the top of the social structure, there are millions of overseas corporate managers and professionals whose careers, identities, and loyalties no longer reside in one country. At the bottom of the social structure, there are currently some 27 million world refugees who have fled their countries because of famines, civil wars, religious persecutions, or ethnic cleansing policies. These new nomads have to reconstruct their material lives and cultural identities in order to adjust to their new environments.
Just like the old nomads, the new ones also often prove themselves to be more resilient in pursuit of their objectives than the local, sedentary populations. This kind of globalism has, in turn, led to the rise of a new kind of localism grounded in nationalist, religious, or ethnic prejudices. The anti- immigrant policies in Western Europe and the United States as well as the militant Hindu, Jewish, Islamic, and Christian movements may be considered as localist reactions to the globalist threats to jobs, identities, and opportunities. Reconciling authentic cultural identities with the rights and responsibilities of global citizenship is a great challenge facing the 21st century.
Majid Tehranian is professor at the University of Hawaii and director of the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy. His latest book is Globalism and Its Discontents: International Communication and Modernization in a Fragmented World (1998). Email: majid@hawaii.edu
Fred W. Riggs. Ethnic Nationalism and the Para-Modern Context
Widespread apprehension and fear of catastrophe pervade the world at the close of the 20th century. The Cold War finale, paradoxically, has not brought an end to history or opened an era of universal peace and democratic capitalism. Instead, we see violent conflicts between weakened states and rebellious ethnonational communities. An explanation cannot be found in primordialist theories or current expediency -- instead, we must look to historical forces rooted in modernity and the rise and fall of industrial empires. From their ashes a host of newer states and mobilizing ethnic nations have arisen, all hoping to experience the fruits of modernization: notably industrialization, democracy and nationalism.
FRED W. RIGGS is professor emeritus of Political Science at the University of Hawaii. His research interests in comparative government include the analysis of constitutional democracy, development in third world countries, and the problems caused by ethnic nationalism. He is the author of Administration in Developing Countries; the Theory of Prismatic Society and many articles and books on related subjects. In recent years he has devoted much time to semantic analysis, especially in the context of IPSA's Committee on Conceptual and Terminological Analysis. An extensive bibliography can be found in Who's Who in the World.ADDRESSES:
- Didier Bigo, CERI-IEP Institut d'etudes politiques, National Foundation for Political Science, 27 rue Saint Guillaume, 75007 Paris. Tel: 33 1 45 49 50 22; Fax: 33 1 44 10 84 50; e-mail: bigo@alize-msh-paris.fr
- Jonathan Friedman, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Lund, Box 114, Lund, Sweden. Tel: 46 46 2228848; fax: 46 46 2224794; email: jonathan.friedman@soc.lu.se
- Thomas D. Hall, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, DePauw University, Greencastle, IN 46135-0037 OFF: 317-658-4519, fax: 317-658-4177, Home: 812-339-6496; Internet: thall@depauw.edu
- Martin Heisler, Dept. of Government and Politics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742; tel: (301) 405-4165; fax: (301) 314-9690; e-mail mheisler@bss2.umd.edu
- Fred W. Riggs, Political Science Department, University of Hawaii, 2424 Maile Way, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, U.S.A. Phone: (808) 956-8123; Fax: (808) 956-6877; e-mail: FREDR@HAWAII.EDU; Web Page: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~fredr/
- Majid Tehranian, Communications Dept., Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822. Tel. (808) 956-3353; e-mail: majid@hawaii.edu
Updated: 21 Nov. 1997
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