The recent trouble in Kosovo has brought the issue of ethnic conflict to the fore, supporting Dr David Brown’s view that nationalism is a major cause of civil unrest.

“Nationalism has become politically contentious in many countries, because people disagree on their national vision,” said Dr Brown, Senior Lecturer from Murdoch’s School of Politics and International Studies.

“Politicians are faced with the difficult task of reconciling different and incompatible views of their people.

“States are faced with a dilemma – should they act as an umpire or should they stick up for one side?”

Dr Brown explained that people on either side of the fence saw themselves as victims and their opposition as aggressors, which led to both parties feeling justified for the conflict.

“The real problem is that nationalism is an ideological construct of myths based on religion, language, territory or common ancestry, used by people to form their identity,” he said.

“Nationalism therefore becomes an ideological box to hold all social grievances and contemporary ills, leading to personal and political interests being interpreted as rights.”

Dr Brown said that although ethnic conflict had always been a problem, it had worsened since the 1960’s due to governments promising social justice.

“This raised people’s hopes, and when governments failed to fulfil their promises, the result was the emergence of new ideas of minority rights. These minority rights claims have split nations,” he said.
Dr Brown spent nearly 30 years of his research career experiencing West African and South East Asian political grievances first hand before joining Murdoch in 1994.

His recent book Contemporary Nationalism draws on these experiences, using examples from Ghana, Spain, Singapore, Australia and elsewhere to demonstrate how governments manage and influence the outcomes of ethnic conflict.

Contemporary Nationalism: Civic, Ethnocultural and Multicultural Politics is published by London/New York, Routledge 2000.