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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- Expansionism-the areal extension of a State and identity"; that is, if the group becomes active in a
domination of neighboring States' territories and political manner and makes it needs known with the
peoples (Parker, 1988) or the claiming of others' ter- State, it becomes a "group politico-territorial identity"
ritories overseas (Christopher 1988). (Knight, 1982).
- Irredentism-the claiming or taking of another Group territorial identities, involving as they do
State's territory based on a cultural claim, whether numerous ways for people to identify and bond and
true or not. Nazi Germany's claiming and taking the yet also to be separate, form an aspect of the geogra-
Sudetenland (in Czechoslovakia) in 1938 is the clas- phies of the mind, because the links-while some-
sic example. times having physical expression, as with flags,
national anthems, favored symbolic sites (Zelinsky,
- Separatism-the separation of one part from another, 1988)-remain essentially in the mind, to turn off or
whether partially or totally. If a regionally based on. Each definition of group self implies some other
group causes friction between the region and the cen- group, with different values, different attachments,
ter, accord may be achieved by the granting of auton- and different allegiances-the description of which
omy as in Euskadi, northern Spain. Decolonization may not reflect reality from the perspective of that
and the granting of statehood due to demands from other group (Said, 1993; Godlewska and Smith 1994).
within a colony is another form of separatism; it is Just as territory has inward and outward conse-
significant that most colonies obtained independence quences, so too does identity. Some groups look
within their colonially derived boundaries because inward, stressing the need for security, whereas others
separatist threats were perceived to be too great to are keen to look outward, seeking opportunities for
permit otherwise. 2 If an internal-to-a-State solution interaction with others. The concepts of territory and
to discord is not enough, the State may disintegrate identity thus share a fundamental tension between
as a result of secessionism, whereby the territory is these competing elements.
divided into two or more parts as with the recent
breakup of Czechoslovakia. We operate at several levels of identity. At the center
is the self, normally set within a family. Beyond that,
we are amazing creatures because we have the capac-
Measures of Identity ity to attach ourselves to many aspects of our group
identities, such as in a neighborhood, a religious com-
All these territorial processes imply people. Of con- munity, a scout troop, a football team, a region of the
cern here are people in groups. The word "people" has country, or even the nation-all of which are tied to
legal meaning; it normally encompasses all the inhab- particular places (Tuan, 1977). We can flick a switch
itants of a State. All people living within Botswana, in our minds and change attachments, as is appropnate
for example, are said to be Batswana, whether or not at the moment. But each of us ultimately gives priority
they all have allegiance to such a definition of group of belonging to a particular level of abstraction of
"self." Some sub-State groups claim they are "people" identity. For many people priority in the people-to-ter-
and thus deserve international recognition (Knight ritory link is at the level of the State. However, for
1988; Crawford 1988). Many other terms are used to many others, priority is given to a lower order alle-
describe groups of people, including nations, ethnic giance. For instance, some may have allegiance to a
groups, and tribes. All evoke feelings of self-worth by regionally based identity, as to Punjab rather than to
members and feelings of suspicion toward nonmem- India. Others may give primary allegiance to their
bers. To get around the problems of evocative defini- tribe/ethnic group/sub-State nation. The latter three
tions, I have offered the phrase "group territorial forms of group identity may be based on claims of
common ancestry; common language; (selective) his-
tory; traditions; and, above all, in the name of the
2 This conservative view is under threat, as demonstrated by the group, a particular territory. .
recent creation of Eritrea out of part of Ethiopia, a territorial break
that perhaps is but a prelude to territorial partitioning and new State
creation that could occur throughout Africa.
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