Risks, Identity and Conflict

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Steven Ratuva

· Hamdy A. Hassan ·

Radomir Compel

Editors

Risks, Identity

and Conflict

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Editors Steven Ratuva Faculty of Arts

University of Canterbury Christchurch, New Zealand Radomir Compel

School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences

Nagasaki University Nagasaki, Japan

Hamdy A. Hassan

College of Humanities & Social Sciences

Zayed University

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

ISBN 978-981-16-1485-9 ISBN 978-981-16-1486-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1486-6

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To Michael Blain, one of our authors and a wonderful philosopher, who passed away much too early and suddenly in 2020 when the book was in

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Foreword

If ever there has been a need to understand the politics, ideology and impact of the relationship between risk, identity and conflict across the world, it is in these days. This book has been put together by a group of eminent international scholars, from the research committee on Security, Conflict and Democratization (R44) of the International Political Science Association (IPSA). The IPSA was founded under the auspices of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Council in 1949, as an international scholarly association for the advancement political science across the world.

Through its fifteen chapters, this book introduces the idea of risk into the study of identity and conflict, and how through unlocking debates and unique narratives, there is a potential that we might be able to address such conflicts in ways that are people-centred, empowering and sustain-able. Risk is part of our everyday lives and how we frame it does vary in relation to different cultural, political, ideological, methodological and philosophical contexts.

The book provides a comparative discussion of the complex relation-ships between identity and conflict and manifestations, of risks and how different societies have managed to deal with these given the resources they have and limitations with which they are faced. The case studies are from various parts of the world and what is clear is that while the process of globalization has linked many international and regional developments, there are still specific issues and conditions, which are unique and highly

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viii FOREWORD

relevant to local contexts. The 2020–2021 COVID-19 pandemic posed one of the most devastating risk factors ever to beset humanity. Each country dealt with it differently in accordance with their specific condi-tions and capabilities. For many this added to the existing social and polit-ical risks of inequality, ethnic conflict, territorial disputes, politpolit-ical power struggle and economic exploitation. And for many there was a need for recovery that included innovative solutions to conflict, and social trans-formation beyond conventional security paradigms. Thank you to the scholars contributing to this book, for expanding our understandings of risk, identity and security, and illuminating future trends regionally and globally. The quest for peace and international relations is foundational to each chapter. This is unique, timely, vital scholarship.

While risk of identity conflict is often unfairly stereotyped as being specific to Global South countries, the storming of Capitol Hill on 6 January 2021 by supporters of President Donald Trump was but one example of how liberal democracy itself creates conditions for political risks in the form of right-wing extremist groups, clamouring for a partic-ular political and cultural identity. This book provides a series of examples of how risks are associated with political mobilization, elections, refugees, ethnic cleansing and even peace-making, regionally and globally. The posi-tive aspect to these is that we humans have the creaposi-tive capacity to respond to and transform these risks into opportunities for peace and stability.

For students and researchers in the areas of identity, security, conflict, peace-building and international relations, this book offers much that is thought-leading, critically substantive and bold. The global context of the book makes it appropriate for comparative studies as well as regional and national analysis of risk, identity and conflict. As a scholar who has worked in the areas of identity, power and education, I find the book timely, given the dramatic changes in the world today, and that the potential we each have to contribute to peace and stability.

January 2021 Prof. Airini

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Preface

The unprecedented impact of COVID-19 around the world and the recent storming of Capitol Hill by supporters of former President Donald Trump are two classic examples of how social risks have shaped events both at the local and global levels. With globalization, risks associated with specific places and historical moments can become universalized as a result of cross-border interactions and global virtual communication, amongst other means. Risks are part of human experiences and how we construct and understand them may differ from society to society or from context to context. This book is about understanding how risks are linked to identity and conflict and how these manifest themselves in different contexts.

In a conference on Risk, Identity and Conflict in August 2019 at the Nagasaki University, jointly organized by several research committees of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) and the Nagasaki University, the notion of “risk” was seen as a missing link in the current discussions on security and conflict. While the idea of risk is contextual, it is also recognized that there are universal conditions, especially in situa-tions of conflict, which are common. These include threats to human life, identity and survival of social groups, amongst other things, although the theoretical framing may differ. The idea of the book is part of the broader plan to initiate discussions on re-theorizing the idea of risks in the context of identity and conflict. Risk, identity and conflict and value-loaded terms, which are subject to diverse theoretical framing and application.

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x PREFACE

The relationship between identity and risks in today’s world is multilay-ered and complex and contribute in direct and indirect ways to increasing conflict, insecurity and instability different regions. Almost every aspect of economic policies, political decisions, military strategies, financial invest-ment and other forms of human endeavours are associated with risks. In the natural sciences, risks can be predictable and calculable, using proba-bility functions and statistical analyses. In the social sciences, risks have to be understood and interpreted in the context of behaviour, relationships, events, perceptions and social transformation. They are intersubjective and are based on assumptions and consequences of complex social interactions and human intentionality. Such risks are far more complicated and difficult to quantify. Social risk has been a concept common to political and secu-rity studies with their focus on the potential of adversarial intentionality and communal survival, beyond the conventional security paradigms. The study of risk management as a way of responding to risk must inevitably include human security, identity construction and social trust. It is impor-tant to capture the complex, intersectional, multi-causal and co-relational linkages between risks, security culture and identity.

This volume explores the complex interrelation between risk, identity and conflict and focuses on ethnicity, religion and gender as modes of identity, which are often associated with conflict and cooperation in the contemporary world. The chapters provide various theoretical perspec-tives and pay special attention to analysis of diverse case studies from Africa, Middle East, East and Southeast Asia, Latin America, as well as the Euro-American world. Using various conceptual and methodolog-ical approaches, it provides narratives of unique local and regional social risk factors and conflict contexts. The relationship between risk and secu-rity is multidimensional and perpetually changing, and lends itself to multiple interpretations. This publication provides some discussions for future theoretical and policy debates on risk, and identity and conflict in a dramatically changing world.

Christchurch, New Zealand Dubai, United Arab Emirates Nagasaki, Japan

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Acknowledgements

The chapters are based on papers presented at a conference on Risk, Iden-tity and Security at the Nagasaki University in August 2019, a result of mutual partnership and collaboration between a number of organizations and networks. Firstly, we acknowledge the conference hosts, the Transdis-ciplinary Research Platform on “Risk Society” in Humanities and Social Sciences of Nagasaki University, which organized a very high standard international conference under the coordination of Associate Professor Radomir Compel.

Secondly, we acknowledge the role of the various research commit-tees of the International Political Science Association for their mutual partnership in making the conference a success. These Research Commit-tees include Security, Conflict and Democratization (RC44), Women and Politics in the Global South (RC07), Biology and Politics (RC12), Poli-tics and Ethnicity (RC14), Technology and Development (RC35) and Religion and Politics (RC43).

Thirdly, we acknowledge the grants provided by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Japan International Cooperation Agency Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development (JICA-RI), Univer-sity of Kitakyushu Grants for Special Research, academic exchange funding bodies, such as, Nagasaki International Tourism and Convention Association.

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xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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Contributors

Sergio Luiz Cruz Aguilar Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), Sao Paulo, Brazil

Michael Blain Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA

Radomir Compel School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan

Jovanie Camacho Espesor Mindanao State University, General Santos, Philippines

Miho Fukui Programme Department, Peace Winds Japan, Tokyo, Japan

Hamdy A. Hassan College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zayed University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Mohd Aminul Karim Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB), Dhaka, Bangladesh

Masaki Kataoka University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

Chigumi Kawaguchi Toyo Gakuen University, Tokyo, Japan

Angeline Kearns-Blain Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA

Hiroko Kinoshita Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

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xviii CONTRIBUTORS

M. Bashir Mobasher American University of Afghanistan, Kabul, Afghanistan;

Western Washington University, Washington, USA

Ryo Nakai Department of Policy Studies, The University of Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu, Japan

Steven Ratuva Faculty of Arts, Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

Kalyango Ronald Sebba School of Women and Gender Studies, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

Hala Thabet Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

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List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 Empire, victimage ritual, and the biopolitics of ethnic groups as terrorists (Source Author, adapted from ideas

developed in Blain [2019]) 29

Fig. 2.2 Structural analysis of melodramatic patterns of meanings in political victimage ritual (Note […]= substitution

of signifiers. Source Authors, adapted from Blain [2019]) 41 Fig. 9.1 Trust of political parties by each ethno/sectarian group

(Source Yamao [2018b, 30]) 212

Fig. 9.2 Result of the 4th parliamentary election: number and % of seats (Source Made by authors based on the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission [https://www.

ihec-iraq.com/ar/]) 213

Fig. 9.3 Frequency and weight of each dictionary by parties

(Source Made by authors) 221

Fig. 9.4 Mobilization tone of each party (Source Created

by authors) 223

Fig. 9.5 Coefficient plot of the Model 1 (Source Created

by authors) 225

Fig. 9.6 Marginal effect of each party’s mobilization tone (Source

Created by authors) 226

Fig. 9.7 Coefficient plot of the Model 3 (Source Created

by authors) 227

Fig. 10.1 Ethnic distribution of survey respondents (Source Author) 234 Fig. 10.2 Opinion of different groups on the issue of power-sharing

in the government (Source Author) 235

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xx LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 10.3 Popularity of the emerging cross-ethnic coalitions against ethnic parties or banning both political organizations

among different ethnic groups (Source Author) 236 Fig. 10.4 Popularity of a cross-ethnic party system over an ethnic

or a mixed party system based on the public opinion

(Source Author) 237

Fig. 10.5 Importance of different identities based on the public

opinion in Afghanistan (Source Author) 238 Fig. 10.6 Comparison of ethnic groups’ responses with regard

to the use of ‘Afghan’ for the people of Afghanistan

as their national identity (Source Author) 239 Fig. 11.1 Map of Ethiopia and the nine regional states (Source map

made by the author) 261

Fig. 12.1 Uganda refugee response coordination structure (Source

WFP and UNHCR 2018) 285

Fig. 12.2 Yumbe settlement referral mechanism (Source UNHCR

2016a, 7) 296

Fig. 13.1 Ecological framework for explaining GBV (Source Author,

adapted from Heise 1998; Ellsberg and Heise 2005, 26) 312 Fig. 14.1 The GBV referral pathway (Source Author, adapted

from data in Inter Agency Standing Committee [2008]. Gender Based Violence Resource tool: Establishing GBV

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List of Tables

Table 2.1 Percent and number of US Presidential

State-of-the-Union addresses containing references to empire and deploying terror/subjection by stages

of US Empire, 1790–2018 31

Table 2.2 Number of n Oxford English Dictionary concepts of terror in relation to the French revolutionary period,

1789–1815 33

Table 2.3 Number of Trump tweets and retweets during campaign (06-01-15) and after 2016 Presidential election

(11-04-2016) 44

Table 2.4 Percent articles linking subjects and discourses to “terrorism” in influential articles indexed

in Sociology Abstracts pre-9/11 (1960–2001) and WoT

(2002–2012) 53

Table 6.1 Muslim population in the Bangsamoro 136 Table 8.1 Logistic regression analysis of people’s national identity

by three unitary-federal systems 197 Table 8.2 Logistic regression analysis of people’s national identity

with interaction terms 198

Table 8.3 The list of countries, elections, and surveys in our

analysis 203

Table 9.1 Social media platforms of the parties 215

Table 9.2 Result of OLS regression 224

Table 10.1 Ethnic composition of political parties

inside the parliament of Afghanistan 243

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xxii LIST OF TABLES

Table 12.1 Organizations and type of service provided 294 Table 12.2 FGDs GBV help-seeking preferences 299 Table 12.3 Refugees’ suggestions for improving SGBV survivor

support access 301

Table 13.1 Promoters and inhibitors of GBV act and help-seeking