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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The Return, Not the End, of History these rights as they have in coming up with an all-
European recipe for sausage.
Western policymakers were thus ill prepared to antici-
pate the breakup of the Soviet empire or the disinte- Americans intuitively approach this subject from a
gration of Yugoslavia. We believed that a democratic different perspective. Group rights, in our view, serve
Soviet Union could solve themessy nationality prob- to delineate and emphasize differences among people
lems ignored or suppressed b czars and commissars and tend to separate rather than unite. From the time
for centuries. In August 1990, in his famous "Chicken of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution,
Kiev" speech, President Bush cast his lot with the cen- especially the Bill of Rights, we have held that indi-
tral authorities in Moscow, deriding "suicidal nation- vidual rights are primary and not subordinated to the
alism" and averring that "democracy does not mean rights of a particular group, some of whom may also
independence." Three weeks later Ukraine declared its belong to national minorities. Even in a politically
independence; five months layer the Soviet Union col- correct age, many Americans are uncomfortable with
lapsed. Later in that same year, Secretary of State distinctions based on race, religion, and nationality.
Baker declared a "one Yugoslavia" policy, thereby,
according to many, encouraging Milosovic to pursue a
"one Serbia" policy. By the end of the year, the world American Ideals and European Solutions
had become all too familiar with the term "ethnic
cleansing." Far from witnessihg the "end of history," In practical terms, what principles guide the American
we are witnessing the "return of history," which all too policymaker in addressing the issue of ethnic conflict
often in Europe has been characterized by ethnic in Europe? Is the concept of individual rights applica-
strife. ble to ethnic and minority issues Europe? Or is it too
anachronistic and too American for dealing with 21st-
century Europe? Can we respect the right of individ-
Russians: "Can't Live With Them, Can't Live ual and group self-determination and, at the same
Without Them" time, defend the territorial integrity of existing nation-
states? In other words, are the Helsinki Final Act prin-
We are also witnessing the geopolitical legacy of ciples valid or even reconcilable in formulating our
Stalin's ethnic policies. By remnoving ethnic minorities policy toward ethnic conflict? In a changing Europe,
from their homelands and often replacing them with we will be increasingly confronted with uncomfort-
ethnic Russians, Stalin laid the basis for today's seem- able choices. Without a conceptual context, we will be
ingly irreconcilable tendencies of independence and forced to rely on ad hoc solutions.
interdependence. The former Soviet Republics all
have economic and blood ties'to their Russian big It is perhaps easier to begin to answer some of these
brothers. And they all resent it. questions by identifying what should not be our pol-
icy. Many Europeans and Americans are ill at ease in
this brave new world. They view the alleged stability
Group Versus Individual Rights of Cold War Europe with some nostalgia; some even
seek solutions in monolithic ethnically pure states.
In addition to these historic reasons, Americans have Both of these remedies are false and dangerous. The
another, perhaps more fundaniental, reason for our Cold War resulted in the systematic suppression of the
inability to come to terms with ethnic conflict in most basic human and national rights in much of
Europe: we hold the individual, not the group, Europe and a massive misuse of scarce resources.
supreme. European nations have long recognized and Solutions based on ethnic purity violate the most basic
promoted the concept of "group and ethnic rights," tenets of Judeo-Christian beliefs. They are particularly
even if Europeans have as much difficulty in defining
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