1995-10-01a- CIA Conference Report: THE CHALLENGE OF ETHNIC CONFLICT TO NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ORDER IN THE 1990S GEOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVES 01-Oct-95

C00123268
Ethnic Conflict: A Comparative coextensive with state boundaries. The term nation is
Examination a useful generalizing concept that can be applied to a
variety of human groupings. At the simplest level,
nations may be viewed as collective, subjective states
Thomas M. Poulsen of mind in which individuals habitually segregate
Professor of Geography other persons into "our folks" and "foreigners." Many
Portland State University of the world's ills are the result of conflicting national
identities. However, nations can also be appreciated
The conventional political map of the world displays for some positive effects, including providing legiti-
170 political geographic features that properly are macy to governmental actions and facilitating eco-
termed sovereign states. They constitute the habitual nomic interdependence through a climate of trust.
framework for contemplating international affairs.
Unfortunately, the conventional map can be a most The concept of nation is questioned by some because
misleading instrument in presenting the political of the great diversity of circumstances the notion
geography of the world. The map depicts relative sizes embraces, with resulting difficulties in definition and
and shapes of countries and the locations of their capi- measurement. Unfortunately, although most national
tal cities, but these are among their least significant groups share a number of elements in common, each
qualities. Indeed, it should be noted that traditional nation, like each state (and virtually every other phe-
political maps of the world typically distort the size of nomenon studied by geography), ultimately is a
states because their customary Mercator projection unique entity. Questionnaires and other techniques
creates great area disparities between tropical and that may effectively identify members of a nation in
polar regions. Although Greenland is about one-sev- one region may prove inappropriate or erroneous
enth the size of South America, it actually appears when applied to groups in another area. The great
larger on most political maps. diversity among nations does not make the concept
any the less useful, however. Although some individu-
Among features of a state critical to governmental als may have a problem with the subjective quality of
functioning that are ignored on political maps are: the abstraction, this does not mean that idea is errone-
ous or that nations do not exist because they cannot be
- The territory really under effective control of the measured.
state's goyernment. The advantage of thinking in terms of nations rather
- The area of the state actually settled and productive. than the more diffuse "ethnic groups" is the political
dimension inherent in the concept. The most impor-
- The degree of centralization of governmental deci- tant common denominators distinguishing nations
sionmaking and authority within the state. from tribes, castes, and other human groupings are
collective self-awareness and a consensual political
" The dependence of the given state upon another agenda. Members of a nation are conscious of that
state. identity, and most believe that their interests are. best
served by having a state of their own.
" Whether the state is a nation-state or a multination
state. The last-named is the most pivotal. Numerous ethnic groups throughout the world do not
satisfy these two criteria. Although anthropologists
and other social scientists may identify common ele-
Nations ments that stamp a given population group as distinc-
tive from its neighbors, a lack of group awareness of
A key element in understanding the modern world is individuals beyond extended kinship patterns or
to appreciate the fact that occupying space concur-
rently with states are more than 250 mutually exclu-
sive nations, and these have few outer limits that are
166