Nationalism, Ethnic Violence, & Terrorism

A comprehensive set of flashcards covering key concepts related to nationalism, ethnic violence, and terrorism as discussed in the lecture.

Nation

A large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language.

Ethnicity

An ethnic group is set apart from others explicitly because of its national origin or cultural patterns.

Primordialism

Suggests that national and ethnic identities are static and we are born into ethnic identities.

Modernism

National and ethnic identities are socially constructed and rooted in modernization.

Ernest Gellner

A social anthropologist and the most well-known theorist on nationalism.

Gellner's Theory of Nationalism

Nationalism is a political principle arguing for the congruence of political and national units.

Role of Education in Gellner's Theory

Education plays a large role in unifying societies.

Critiques of Gellner's Theory

Overlooks conflict and division, passion embedded in nationalism, and lacks attention on nations without states.

Benedict Anderson

Known for his book 'Imagined Communities' and his view of the nation as a social construct.

Origins of Nationalism according to Anderson

Explained through the spread of print media information and increased literacy.

Ethnic Conflict

A conflict between multiple ethnic groups analyzed through a multidimensional lens.

Influences on the Yugoslavia Wars

State factors, historical impact of empires, world war, fascism, social identities, communism, and religion.

Ethnic Violence (Rogers and Laitin, 1998)

Violence perpetrated across ethnic lines where at least one party is not a state.

Importance of Disaggregating Data on Ethnic Violence

There are many different types of ethnic violence, such as genocide, ethnic riots, and terrorism.

Causes of Ethnic Violence

Lack of state power, lack of intervention, explicit ethnic framing of violence, and ethnic rights support.

Terrorism

The use or threat of violence against random or symbolic targets in pursuit of political aims.

Old Terrorism

Associated with nationalism, linked to nations without states, and fundamentally local.

New Terrorism

Made possible by communications technology, has global aims, and employs limitless violence.

Causes of Terrorism

Failed states, rapid modernization, extreme ideologies, a history of political violence, and large-scale discrimination.

Jeff Goodwin's Definition of Terrorism

The strategic use of violence and threats of violence by an oppositional political group against civilians.

Categorical Terrorism

The strategic use of violence and threats against civilians by political groups, without regard for