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Priorities for Research on the Comparative Study of Identity Conflicts
Pages 21-30

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From page 21...
... Walker, 7~u~mila Gotagova, Emil Pain, Aleksandr Shubin authors of this report recommend a major focus of research on comparative studies of the factors involved in supporting, maintaining, and ending violence in the expression of identity conflicts. This working group was not appointed by the National Research Council or the National Academies.
From page 22...
... A broad range of violent and nonviolent identity conflicts in the post-Soviet space were considered, as well as existing databases that might be used or expanded to support the needed comparative analyses. It is recommended that comparative research efforts focus on the eight substantive topics described below.
From page 23...
... Why do particular methods of mobilization appear successful in building mass support and action in one case, while the same mechanisms remain unnoticed by broad masses of people in other cases? Processes of Transformation in Identity Conflicts In many cases the ideology of an identity conflict may change in the course of the conflict into something different from what was originally envisioned by the ideologists or organizers of the conflict.
From page 24...
... Uses and Limitations of Force for Resolving Identity Conflicts Third parties to identity conflicts are often tempted to intervene forcefully in one way or another to reduce or prevent violence in conflicts that have a real or potential identity dimension. Some have argued that the use of armed forces, for example, peacekeeping or peacemaking operations, in zones of ethnic and religious conflicts, uprisings, and so forth, often gives rise to unmanageable processes.
From page 25...
... Additional comparative research is needed on the varieties of traditional mechanisms of intercommunal dispute mediation, on the compatibility of these traditional mechanisms with the formal institutions of liberal democracy and a liberal economy, and on the ways in which greater legal rationality promoted by modernizing national governments affects traditional conflict management institutions. A practical goal of the research is to identify ways in which national governments can consolidate their institutions without upsetting existing intercommunal equilibria.
From page 26...
... As above, a practical goal is to identify strategies of liberalization and democratization that might make intercommunal violence less, rather than more, likely during periods of transition. Political Economy of Violent Identity Conflict Some economic networks provide resources for violent conflict, produce additional incentives for conflict, or perpetuate conflict.
From page 27...
... Thus, a comparative study that Includes cases from one former Soviet space would provide a broader base of knowledge for comparing cases and building theories about effective conflict management strategies. Conditions Favoring the Rise and Fall of the Entrepreneurs of Identity Violence Because of the expressed interest in this topic by the working group on collective violence, this working group did not prepare a separate description of the research agenda.
From page 28...
... The primary advantages of statistical methods include the ability to carry out partial correlation analysis and its equivalents, which allow for quantitative estimation of causal weights and other causal relationships; the ability to analyze the representativeness or frequency of subsets of the data collected; and the high degree of replicability of studies using the same database. Limitations of statistical methods include a lack of accepted procedures for identifying new variables, difficulties dealing with path dependencies and complex causality, problems in devising conceptually valid operationalizations of qualitative variables, and difficulties in
From page 29...
... Notably, this listing of advantages and limitations is almost the converse of those of case study methods, which are poor at partial correlations and measures of frequency but good at identifying new variables, dealing with complex causal relations, and providing and testing historical explanations. The increasingly evident complementarily of case studies, statistical methods, and formal models is likely to lead toward more collaborative work by scholars using these different approaches.
From page 30...
... 30 CONFLICT AND RECONSTRUCTION IN MULTIETHNIC SOCIETIES The working group therefore encourages multimethod collaboration among Russian and American researchers on comparative studies of identity conflicts. Russian and American scholars with knowledge of statistical techniques and databases might collaborate with their colleagues who have knowledge of particular cases and formal models to do the following: · identify statistical correlations that have unclear causal mechanisms and that might be usefully explored through case studies · identify case study findings and new variables that might be tested statistically · work to agree on valid, operationalizable measures of key variables that can be collected into data sets · build upon the lessons learned from the American "Correlates of War" project and similar large-scale quantitative analyses of violence to produce valid and cumulative findings.


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