Three Images of Ethnic War

Why do ethnic groups adopt violent means? In the 1990's, ethnicity emerged as the principle source of organized violence around the world. Ethnic wars were no longer internal conflicts between substate actors; instead they challenged state sovereignty and taxed the international community's ability to respond. Efforts to understand ethnic conflict remain divorced from the study of systemic change and the declining authority, capacity, and legitimacy of weak multiethnic states. This work proposes that the phenomenon of ethnic violence must be understood through a multilevel approach and that finding a solution to ethnic violence is possible only if we have a clear understanding of the sources that spark such violence in the first place.The Three Images of Ethnic War identifies the causes of ethnic war at three levels of analysis — the group, the state, and the international. These are the three images of ethnic war. This book places the outbreak of violence within context of the state and the international system in which the violence unfolds. Hanlon examines three violent ethnic wars in Yugoslavia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Iraq. Yugoslavia's violent ethnic wars, the war over Nagorno-Karabakh, and the violent conflict between Kurds and Arabs in Iraqi Kurdistan demonstrate that ethnic violence is a complex and multifaceted occurrence. Hanlon argues that the numerous reasons why groups adopt violent means can only be understood through a multilevel framework of the three images of ethnic war and the interrelationship among them.

"Hanlon (international security studies, National Defense University) proposes that the sources of ethnic violence must be understood through a multilevel approach. Taking the three levels of analysis in Kenneth Waltz’s Man, the State and War as a jumping off point, she identifies the causes of ethnic war at the group, state, and international levels, and employs these levels to develop eight models that explain why ethnic groups adopt violent means—four group-level models, two state-level models, and two systemic-level models. She then applies this multilevel framework to examine ethnic wars in the former Yugoslavia, the conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Nagorno- Karabakh, and the conflict between Kurds and Arabs in Iraq." - Reference & Research Book News, ". . . introductory readers, particularly at the undergraduate level, will benefit from this clear primer on how civil wars unfold. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels." - Choice

Querine Hanlon is Associate Professor of International Security Studies and Chair of the International Security Studies Department at National Defense University's College of International Security Affairs. She is also a fellow at the National Strategy Information Center where she is working on a project on the 21st century security paradigm.