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

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established impressive civilizations long before the from an appellation applied by Italians to their "unre-
advent of Europeans to the New World, the oldest deemed" fellow nationals who lived outside the King-
buildings Americans see in their homeland are less dom of Italy.-The concept has become a universal one
than four centuries old, and orn the West Coast they are applied to members of nations living outside the
barely 150 years old. In contrast, Europeans daily boundaries of a state dominated by people like them-
walk past cathedrals erected 10 centuries or more ago. selves. Irredentist minorities pose particular problems
European perceptions are of a national continuity with to world peace because their causes may elicit active
the forebears who constructed those buildings, even support from adjacent states governed by members of
though the national identities to which they adhere are their nations.
products primarily of the 19th century.
World Patterns of Nations and States
Overlapping Patterns of States and Nations
The pattern of nation-and-state combinations differs
Lack of coincidence between the patterns of states and from region to region around the world. Only a few
nations is a principal driving force in world affairs. states may be classed as pure nation-states lacking
Present configurations are a consequence of historical minority nations that seek autonomy or separation.
processes and events unique to each area. In many Interestingly, France, which often is held out as the
cases, including that of the Japanese and the Portu- archetype of the nation-state, is not one of these. It
guese, the nation is clearly a product of an ancient embraces at least four minority nations that increas-
state and coincides closely with it. In other instances, ingly seek recognition of their distinctive status and
such as that of the Croatians or Belarusians, the nation territories: the Corsicans, Bretons, Basques, and Occi-
emerged despite strong efforts at suppression by state tanians.
authorities.
More than three-quarters of the states of Europe are
. Although the vast majority of states feature single multinational, although this percentage has decreased
dominant nations, most also contain inconvenient in recent years with the divisions of Yugoslavia and
other national groups. In many cases this asymmetry Czechoslovakia. However, newly independent Mace-
is the result of past state-building when petty units donia must deal with a 20-percent minority of Alba-
were melded together with no thought given to cul- nians, and Slovakia must accommodate 10 percent of
tural characteristics of inhabitants. A degree of homo- its citizens who are Magyars and 7 percent who are
geneity resulted from imposition of the ruler's Ruthenians.
religion, although language resisted assimilation. In
other instances, the intermixture of groups in frontier The former Soviet Union held the dubious distinction
zones between culture areas made impossible the of being the most diverse state in the world, with at
drawing of boundary lines between new nation-states least 30 groups that could be termed nations and more
that did not include minorities, Thus, all the states than 70 other peoples inhabiting its land space. The
formed in the East European "shatter zone" after dominant Russians numbered barely half its total pop-
World War I encompassed minorities approaching 20 ulation. Despite the USSR's fragmentation, few of the
percent or more. Similarly, no ideal line could be Soviet successor countries can be termed nation-
drawn between Muslims and Hindus when indepen- states, as witnessed by Azerbaijan's problems with
dence came to India and Pakistan and tragedy Armenians and Georgia's difficulties with Abkhazians
resulted-and continues in Kashmir-when a line was and Ossetes.
established.
Despite the seeming homogeneity in religion and lan-
In surveying minority nations, a meaningful distinc- guage of the Middle East and North Africa, virtually
tion rests between those that are self-contained and none of the region's states are without minority prob-
those that are "irredentist." The latter term is derived lems. Several, including Lebanon, Turkey, Iran, and
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