Documents / FOIA release

(Estimated Pub Date) the Challenge of Ethnic Conflict to National and International Order in the 1990S: Geographic Perspectives- October 1995

Central Intelligence Agency · 1995-10-01 · 205 pages · text from the file's own layer

This Central Intelligence Agency conference report, numbered RTT 95-10039 and dated October 1995, presents the proceedings of a conference held 30 September to 1 October 1993. The CIA's Geographic Resources Division sponsored the conference. In it, academic geographers, anthropologists and US Government officials examined ethnic conflict by region, covering Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and South Asia. The report also discusses what these conflicts mean for US policy. It does not deal with UFOs or unidentified aerial phenomena.

  • p. 9 …He also dis- cusses how various groups have reacted to rising terri- torial nationalism. Approved for…
  • p. 18 …The issue of sense of territory is thus closely linked to the second core terri- torial…
  • p. 19 …The latter encompasses laws that set aside some terri- tory for a given ethnic group. The…
  • p. 28 …The link between territory, identity, and terri- toriality becomes especially dynamic when discord exists between two…
  • p. 32 …Murphy made about ethnic mobili- zation and socioeconomic status as they relate to terri- toriality. Dr…
  • p. 33 …suggest giving the old provinces more political-terri- torial significance within the state. Then their citizens…
  • p. 50 …The Serbs want Krajina as a piece of geographical terri- tory, and the Serbs who live…
  • p. 52 …Sovereignty over European terri- tory was initially determined by church and dynastic settlements following periodic warfare…
  • p. 66 …That may mean some of the kinds of terri- torial policies that I suggested. It also…
  • p. 76 …National identity and terri- torial identity have been intimately interrelated, and a rising sense of national…
  • p. 79 …The big- gest threat to Russia today in terms of its intemal terri- torial integrity is…
  • p. 153 …The real crux of the terri- torial problem is one of scale because the homoge- neity…
  • p. 184 …Nevertheless, many geographers will agree that one of the most important characteristics of‘terri- tory is…
Approved for Release: 2018/06/01 C00123268
The second question is: how do we evaluate the poli-
cies of individual states in relation to minority groups,
in particular, tenitorial policies? There was an
extended discussion in the paper of the Basque situa-
tion, where power has been devolved to regions of a
quasiautonomous nature. Despite this devolution, a
continuation of fairly strong anti-Madrid bias can still
be seen in voting pattems in Spain. At the same time,
overt violence has been reduced. This raises questions
about the impact of state policies that acknowledge
the existence of ethnic concentrations and use territo-
rial policies to incorporate ethnic groups in the deci-
sionmaking process. It may mean—as has happened
to a degree in the Basque case—that bringing a sepa-
ratist group into the decisionmaking structure may
marginalize the more violent elements of the group.
General Discussion
QUESTION: With regard to ethnic issues, what poli-
cies are likely to best promote US interests in the
region? ,
_ __
DR. MURPHY: The United States has an interest in a
stable and economically vital Europe. This would sug-
gest that it is in the US interest to promote the kind of
policy options that lead to stability from an ethnic
standpoint. That may mean some of the kinds of terri-
torial policies that I suggested. It also means that the 4
United States should promote the idea of a European
Community that does not just look like a much more
centralized community but one that actually facilitates
the kinds of regional linkages that Dr. Williams has
outlined. We should be not be scared of the fact that
the nation-state is changing. It is in the US interest to
promote the kind of regional arrangements that will
lead to a more stable and outward~looking Europe.
58
Approved for Release: 2018/06/01 C00123268

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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 205 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.