Ethnic Conflict in the Modern World-System: The Dialectics of Counter-Hegemonic Resistance in an Age of Transition

Abstract

This article recasts debates about the extent and causes of ethnic con?ict within the world-system framework. Ethni?cation and indigenism are inherent structural contradictions of the modern world-system, and there is the highest incidence of ethnic resistance at the peak of a hegemon’s ascendancy. Consequently, there has not been a dramatic increase in ethnic con?ict since the end of the Cold War. However, ethnic mobilizations pose an increased challenge to the continued functioning of the world-system during the current age of transition. Ethnic mobilizations erode the capitalist civilizational project and increase costs to the system in ways that exacerbate the growing pro?t squeeze. I identify ?ve ways in which the counter-hegemonic mobilizations of ethnic minorities are costly to the world-system and can push it toward bifurcation and transformation.

Moving toward Theory for the 21st Century: The Centrality of Nonwestern Semiperipheries to World Ethnic/Racial Inequality

“…Worldwide since 1995, half or more of ethnic mobilizations have emerged as resistance against capitalist economic agendas, but semiperipheral states bore the brunt of local opposition (Dunaway 2003). What are the world-systemic causes of ethnic/racial resistance in the semiperiphery?…”

“…What are the world-systemic causes of ethnic/racial resistance in the semiperiphery? There is growing evidence that "the diffusion of a world system culture of human rights" (Olzak and Tsutsui 1998: 714) is leading to increased ethnic resistance (Dunaway 2003 persistence in semiperipheral countries. While strengthening world capitalist agendas, the recent core ideological focus on multiculturalism has empowered ethnic minorities in the nonwestern semiperipheries to resist policies of their own governments (Friedman 1997: 83-85).…”

“…A majority of these peoples are at risk from their own states, and most of these groups fall within 20 Analysis of Minority Rights Group International (2016) 21 For a more extensive discussion of the conflicts between nation-building and ethnic diversity, see Dunaway (2003) and Jalata (2004 Table 8A). Most semiperipheral states implement policies to constrain transnational and internal migration, often using inflammatory public propaganda, military police roundups and tight border policing.…”

“…Behaving like the western core, semiperipheries treat ethnic communities as "internal peripheries" in order to exploit their lands and natural resources (e.g., Sturgeon et al 2006). The strategies of marginalization, oppression and exploitation employed by semiperipheral states stimulate resistance, ensuring the persistence of and greater solidarity within ethnic groups, generating more cross-ethnic coalition building, and drawing international attention to their human rights violations (Dunaway 2003 (Gobel and Ong 2015).…”

Não indiferença: nova comunidade ideológica de consciência para o Sul Global?

“…Com isso, é importante lembrar que a ideia de resistência contra--hegemônica faz parte do conjunto de comportamentos antissistêmicos de referência encontrado na literatura que compartilha a matriz teórica do sistema-mundo, como, por exemplo, as ideias de manifestação, de mobilização e de movimento antissistêmicos, todos conceitos derivados da perspectiva teórico-metodológica do sistema-mundo (Fotopoulos, 2001;Dunaway, 2003;Rojas, 2010). O panorama subjacente à constituição desse conjunto de conceitos pretende, por um lado, aglutinar sob uma única denominação constructos de práticas de contestação, resistência e repúdio à opressão e à exploração sistêmicas, bem como aos diferentes graus de organização e persistência desses comportamentos, nos moldes daquela unificação que Wallerstein organizou quando concebeu o conceito de movimento antissistêmico a partir da junção dos movimentos sociais e nacionais.…”