Between empire and state-building: Ethnic conflict, United Nations intervention, and the post-colonial state after the Cold War.
Item
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Title
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Between empire and state-building: Ethnic conflict, United Nations intervention, and the post-colonial state after the Cold War.
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Identifier
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AAI3159249
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identifier
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3159249
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Creator
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Rear, Michael C.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Howard H. Lentner
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Date
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2005
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Political Science, General | Political Science, International Law and Relations
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Abstract
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Since the end of the Cold War, violent ethnic conflict has coincided with an increase in the number of failed or collapsed states and the emergence of more muscular and intrusive forms of external intervention by the United Nations.;This dissertation explores the relationship between ethnic conflict and the state-building process in post-colonial states. My theory has two parts. The first part establishes a linkage between ethnic conflict and the analytically distinct, but interrelated, state- and nation-building processes. This type of conflict offers a means by which post-colonial state boundaries are brought into conformity with the military capabilities of state makers to both defend and govern territory; it also offers a way to resolve ethnically-based divisions within society through the forcible homogenization of the population of the state. The net result is the transformation of weak, post-colonial states into states capable of effective self-governance. This is achieved through the forcible consolidation of authority by victorious state leaders, who actions result in the creation of ethnically homogeneous states.;The second part of the theory addresses the impact of post-Cold War external intervention upon this state-building process. A comparison between cases of internal (frequently ethnic) conflict in the absence of external intervention and cases involving different forms of intervention suggests that efforts to interfere with the violence also interfere with the state-building process. The result is the preservation of weak states and the perpetuation of state weakness, which, in turn, increases the likelihood of state failure or collapse.;The case of the 1991 uprisings against Saddam Hussein is used to test this theoretical relationship between ethnic conflict, state-building, and external intervention in post-colonial states in the post-Cold War era. The evidence from this case study suggests that intervention in the ethnic/sectarian conflicts in Iraq did undermine the state-building process and also contributed to the problems with democratization experienced in the post-Saddam era.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
