Ethnicities current issue

Turkey's Kurds and the Quest for Recognition: Transnational Politics and the EU--Turkey accession negotiations

Casier, M. — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:06:19 PST

The growing literature on transnationalism documents the ways in which immigrants and refugees stay connected with their communities and countries of origin, and shows how homeland governments reach out to their former constituents. Social, financial and political ties are extended across borders. We know little, however, about the specific ways in which oppositional transnational political practices are shaped and made effective. What is more, research on transnational political practices has often limited itself to investigations of the connections between nation states. This article illustrates how transnational political practices articulate different levels of policy making (local, national, supranational) in ways that multiply the effectiveness of engagement at any one site. It will be shown that homeland political activists can effectively shape the homeland political agenda through the mobilization of immigrants’ and refugees’ associations and institutions in multilevel constructions of networks, constituting a space of political engagement that needs to be considered in its own right.

Inter-ethnic friendships in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina: Sociodemographic and place influences

O'Loughlin, J. — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:06:19 PST

International concerns about the continued ethnicization of Bosnian social and political life are both validated and challenged by the December 2005 public opinion study. Ordinary Bosnians are willing to consider cross-ethnic friendships and cooperation. The gap between ethnic elites and entrepreneurs and their constituents is evident still in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH). The optimistic note of this study is sounded by the fact that half of respondents in BiH want more friends from different nationalities. The differences between the three ethnic groups are not dramatic. However, 41 percent of respondents stated that all or most of their friends were from their own nationality. Analysis of the responses by geographic location and by explanations related to modernization, ethnic competition and war experiences, indicated that all proved useful in understanding the distributions. The geographic distributions indicated the primacy of the urban—rural factor for questions on current friendship networks and preferences for friends in other ethnic groups.

'We Are the Good Guys': Ideological positioning of the nationalist party Sverigedemokraterna in contemporary Swedish politics

Hellstrom, A., Nilsson, T. — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:06:19 PST

This article explores the ideological positioning of Sverigedemokraterna (SD; the Sweden Democrats) in contemporary Swedish politics. Comparative research on nationalist parties pays very little attention to SD, despite the fact that following the general elections in 2006 it came close to consolidating a permanent position in Swedish politics. In the analysis, we highlight the recurrent rhetorical figures in the public debate as manifested in the media coverage from September 2006 to May 2007. The ideological positioning of SD evolves in the interaction between its self-image and the counter arguments adopted by SD-antagonists. Although the established parties were careful to distance themselves from SD, our analysis indicates a possible taming of SD in the run-up to the general elections in 2010. The party’s monocultural nationalist messages may also become more widely accepted and still allow it to be considered as ‘one of the good guys’.

White Backlash, 'Unfairness' and Justifications of British National Party (BNP) Support

Rhodes, J. — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:06:19 PST

In 2005, Roger Hewitt published White Backlash and the Politics of Multiculturalism . Using qualitative research conducted in Greenwich, London and via an engagement with political and media discourses, he traced the emergence of a new theme within white racism. This article will outline the origins and development of ‘white backlash’, from Conservative MP Enoch Powell’s infamous ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech in 1968 through Thatcherism, and examine the re-emergence of notions of ‘unfairness’ to whites as a result of the actions of both New Labour and the British National Party (BNP). Using qualitative interviews with BNP voters in Burnley, Lancashire, England, the way in which individuals sought to ‘justify’ their actions with recourse to notions of ‘unfairness’ and ‘equality’ will be examined. It will be suggested that BNP supporters viewed multiculturalism and its perceived allies, positive discrimination and political correctness, to be the harbingers of a policy that institutionalized the exclusion of white residents.

Cultural Exemptions, Equality and Basic Interests

Shorten, A. — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:06:19 PST

Justifications for cultural exemptions (CE) have been a controversial feature of recent discussions of multiculturalism. Some hold that CEs are justifiable (if at all) only on grounds of prudence (for instance, in order to secure political stability). According to the prudence-only view, CEs are justified inequalities. Meanwhile, some multiculturalists claim that at least some CEs are required to respect the equality of citizens from minority cultures. Sometimes this follows from a particular interpretation of what ‘luck egalitarianism’ requires, and sometimes it follows from a particular account of equality of recognition. In each case, the claim is that CEs are not justified inequalities but are justified for equality. This article rejects the prudence-only view and casts doubt on the two dominant egalitarian arguments for CEs, instead defending a version of a ‘basic interests’ argument. This approach is then shown to be supported by some widely held views about the importance of self-respect for democratic citizenship.

The Vertical and Horizontal Dimensions of the Word Race

Banton, M. — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:06:19 PST

The word race has been used both to classify humans and to account for differences between those assigned to the resulting classes or taxa. The two dimensions (horizontal and vertical) are inherent in the conception of race. Initially, the word was used in ways that gave more expression to the sense of descent embodied in the vertical dimension. Since the early 19th century, the word has been used in ways that express the sense of classification reflected in the horizontal dimension. Some histories of thought about human origins and divisions have assumed, wrongly, that a ‘scientific concept of race’ was at some time established within anthropology.

Defining Race Scientifically: A response to Michael Banton

Bernasconi, R. — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:06:19 PST

Questions and Answers: A reply to Robert Bernasconi

Banton, M. — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:06:19 PST

Books Received

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:06:19 PST