Routledge Ethnic Politics and Conflict/Violence: State of the Field and New Directions

Ethnicity is one of the most salient and enduring topics of social science, not least with regard to its potential link to political conflict/violence. Despite, or perhaps because of, the concept’s significant use, all too seldom has the field paused to consider the state of our knowledge. For example, how do we define and conceive of ethnicity within the context of political conflict? What do we really know about the causal determinants of ethnic conflict? What has been the most useful development within this literature, and why? This volume comprises reflections from an international range of prominent political scientists all engaged in the study of ethnicity and conflict/violence. They attempt to synthesize what the field does and does not know with regard to ethnic conflict, as well as draw out the research directions for the immediate future in unique and interesting ways. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Ethnopolitics. About the Author Erika Forsberg is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, Sweden. Current research interests include gender inequality and political conflict, and the effects conflict exposure/trauma may have on individuals’ psychological health and intergroup attitudes. Jóhanna K. Birnir is Associate Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland College Park, USA. Her work examines the role identity plays in politics including electoral politics and conflict. Her current projects examine how the interaction of ethnic and religious demographics creates incentives for mobilization and conflict, and how gender norms influence political behaviour. Christian Davenport is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Science, and Faculty Associate, at the University of Michigan, USA, as well as Global Fellow and Research Professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo, Norway. He generally works on state repression/human rights violation and the dynamic relationship between challenging as well as counter-challenging behaviour.