The consequences of nationalism: A scholarly exchange

The main thrust of the scholarship on nationalism has so far been concerned with its origins. But nationalism also has effects. Whether it underpins the nation-building efforts of states, is mobilised by counter-state forces or is used in everyday life, nationalism might implicate a wide range of substantive outcomes, including political regimes, public goods provision, citizenship and immigration laws, and different patterns of conflict. Yet—with a few notable exceptions—the consequences of nationalism have received significantly less scholarly attention. In response, the aim of this Exchange is to create a new dialogue between different strands of scholarship around what we know and do not know about the consequences of nationalism. We organise this Exchange around the following questions: (1) What is nationalism? (2) How can we measure nationalism? (3) What are the consequences of nationalism? (4) What are new research frontiers?     

Exploring stakeholder groups through a testimony analysis on the Hawaiian aquarium trade

ABSTRACT

A remote archipelago, Hawai'i, offers a plethora of sought after coastal and marine tourism experiences. The same unique marine fauna that draws tourists also makes Hawai'i a major player in the international ornamental aquarium trade. For many residents of Hawai'i, the marine realm is part of their island home and interactions with tourists and tourism activities are a part of everyday life. For many residents, the ocean is an important resource and for some a staple source of livelihood, be it through tourism, fisheries, or the aquarium trade. This variance between extractive and non-extractive marine resource use creates conflicts between stakeholder groups in Hawai'i. This study thematically analyzes public testimony records, which included 1652 individual testimonies, from proposed legislation aimed to establish ‘an aquatic life conservation program in the Division of Aquatic Resources to implement conservation measures, including limited entry areas and certification requirements, to regulate the collection of fish and other aquatic life for aquarium purposes. Public opinions evident in individual testimonies are representative of the disagreement in the literature regarding the stability and health of reef fishes populations in Hawai'i and broader resource-user conflicts. This study aims to better describe the user conflict between stakeholder groups in the marine resources of Hawai'i by exposing themes concerning change in natural environments.     

The Battle of Cheriton: the analysis of artefacts from an English Civil War Battlefield

The Battle of Cheriton in 1644, one of many English Civil War battles, was a major turning point in the war. The battle has not been studied in detail, but the battlefield has been subject to extensive amateur metal detecting. Until now, only a very small percentage of the Cheriton battlefield assemblage has been examined. This paper aims to gain a new understanding of the events of the battle by analysing the assemblage of small finds that has been collected from the battlefield site. The result of this analysis is that the true location can now be provided with some certainty, along with a better understanding of the events and range of weapons used at the battle.     

Reaching across: institutional barriers to cross‐ethnic parties in post‐conflict societies and the case of Northern Ireland

This paper investigates the paradox in post‐conflict societies of continued marginality of cross‐ethnic parties despite significant convergence in public attitudes and identities. In so doing, it examines the argument that parties that attempt to reach across the divide are constrained by consocational institutions designed to accommodate rival identities in such environments. The paper explores this puzzle in the context of Northern Ireland, drawing upon qualitative evidence from elite interviews and focus groups collected in 2012 and 2013. It concludes that cross‐community parties operating in the region do encounter formal institutional barriers, but that such barriers only partially explain the phenomenon and an interplay between formal and informal constraints underlies their position of relatively limited electoral success.     

Establishing the Bougainville Mining Workers' Union, 1969–1976

Bougainville Copper Limited's Panguna mine was a huge and complex undertaking that, despite its potential for creating social disruption, operated successfully for two decades before the outbreak of armed conflict in 1988. One source of conflict, common in mining but neglected in previous research on Bougainville, is labour relations and, in particular, how a local workforce was integrated into a system of negotiation that facilitated the operation of the mine by limiting the level and intensity of workplace conflict. Between 1969 and 1988, the Bougainville Mining Workers’ Union (BMWU) played a key role in this structure of accommodation of conflicting interests. This paper uncovers the history of how the BMWU developed the capacity to represent its members' interests successfully and play a positive role in conflict resolution.     

In pursuit of productive conflict in strategic planning: project identification

This paper discusses three normative standpoints on conflict in strategic spatial planning: no conflict, conflict for consensus and conflict for meta-consensus on the validity of dispute. These views apply to the questions of whether and why projects, as a major source of conflict, should be identified in the process of strategic planning. In their approaches to these questions, the performance school advocates the production of general guidelines to avoid conflict, the collaborative perspective supports the identification of projects in strategic planning in order to utilize their potential in a conflict-to-consensus journey and the conflict-oriented perspective favours the identification of projects in strategic planning in order to arrive at meta-consensus on the immediate disputability of robust agreements. Reflecting on the collaborative perspective, this paper tests a hypothetical model of how conflicts created in the face of project identification can feed in making consensual strategies. Findings in the North West region of England support the model and suggest some difficulties with reviewing such consensus around which a resistance network forms. The paper puts forward some recommendations for overcoming the review challenge.     

Winning while losing: The Apprentice Boys of Derry walk their beat

Ethno-territorial conflict is a common feature of human affairs, and efforts to understand and mitigate its impacts require an examination of how peoples, communities, and nations “lose;” specifically, what happens as and after they lose in terms of their relationship with place and space, and the associated effects on self and community identity. This article examines recent Apprentice Boys of Derry parades in Northern Ireland as a mechanism by which a community that has lost control of symbolically significant space seeks to demonstrate an ongoing attachment to critical places. Twice-yearly parades allow Protestants to narrate their experience in the town of Derry/Londonderry as a victory, despite circumstantial evidence which suggests otherwise. The ability to claim victory through parading provides members of the Apprentice Boys organization with a raison d'etre, and serves in place of an aggressive agenda to regain control of territorial icons. The article draws upon extensive fieldwork, including interviews with key figures on both sides of the sectarian divide, and explores the nature of the community and the evolution of its parades as Protestants have lost influence in the town since the onset of Northern Ireland's Troubles. It suggests that, in the study of ethno-territorial conflicts, attention should be paid to the tactics of those who lose hegemony, as their actions affect the potential for conflict management and the likelihood of ongoing strife.     

徽州宗族历史的建构与冲突——以黄墩叙事为中心

徽州宗族迁徙史上普遍存在"始迁黄墩"的记载,而"篁墩"之称则始于程敏政.此类记载更多的是传说,而非史实,其实质是徽州宗族为建构自身历史而作出的叙事.围绕这一叙事,引发了诸多矛盾和冲突,各宗族为消解冲突而不懈努力.对黄墩叙事的研究,具备方法论与历史观的双重价值,可以成为打开徽州宗族世界大门的一把钥匙.     

Mediating anti-political peace in Abidjan: Radio,place and power

After a decade of conflict (1999–2011), peace-building in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, focused on the local as a primary site of reconciliation. In addition to being local, peace was anti-political, seeking to separate place from politics as autonomous realms of public life. Through the example of local radio peace programmes, this article offers a critical, ethnographic account of anti-political peace as a spatial process. It links local peace and its justifications to the operations of governmental power, emphasising continuities of anti-political mediation and political domination. Such a historicised perspective challenges the framing of anti-political peace as the opposite of politics-as-conflict: they have long been two sides of the same coin in Abidjan and, as a binary “choice,” prevent the search for more democratic alternatives. Simultaneously, I argue that anti-political peace it is best approached as a field of contest. An ethnographic approach acknowledges the widespread rejection of politics in the Ivoirian metropolis, while resisting the collapse of institutional and everyday perspectives into a self-reinforcing consensus. I show that radio producers and Abidjanais residents could not quite pin down the meaning of politics, as that which ought to be shunned. Rather than bypass these hesitations through normative or ontological reasoning, I suggest (following others) that we might treat politics' irreducible polysemy as a source of continued struggle.     

Contemporary conflicts,cross‐border military operations,and the declining role of the UN: The case of Turkey and Saudi Arabia

This article examines an emerging trend of cross‐border conflicts between states and non‐state actors. It looks at the narratives fronted by Turkey and Saudi Arabia to justify their operations in northern Syria and Yemen, respectively. The authors argue that the increased inaction and lack of influence by the UN in response to such operations reaffirm states as the core actors in international politics and that national security and interests continue to shape the behavior of actors at the international level. The article concludes that the UN needs to adjust to the new forms of conflicts, actors, and behavior being experienced at the international level if it is to retain its relevance as an anchor of peace and international security.