Intragroup Divisions in Ethnic Conflicts: From Popular Grievances to Power Struggles

Institutional Conflict Settlement in Divided Societies: The Role of Subgroup Identities in Self-Government Arrangements

“…Case studies demonstrate that intraethnic conflict may lead to the escalation of interethnic conflict: elites within ethnic groups might resort to confrontational ethnic agendas and political programs when their political power is threatened internally, thereby fostering intergroup ethnic conflict (Deng 1995;Prunier 1995). Similarly, political competition within ethnic groups can motivate elites to "play the ethnic card" in order to gain support against their political rivals, thus triggering the spirals of radicalization mentioned above (Caspersen 2008;Hislope 1996;Mitchell et al 2009). Others argue that intraethnic conflict might in fact have a positive effect on interethnic rivalries as it might move attention away from ethnic conflict and provide incentives for cooperation across ethnic lines (Horowitz 1985;Sisk 1996).…”

The Baloch Ethnic Movement: a Study of Ethno-nationalist Conflict

“…Such analyses overlook how the presence of certain factors that led to a movement's surge in popularity or efficacy are also important in explaining the weakening of an ethno-nationalist movement. Other authors, such as Casperson (2008) and Staniland (2012) place more importance on understanding the social, economic, and power dynamics within an ethnic group to understand how a movement evolves. This project contributes to the literature on ethnonationalist conflict by bridging the gaps between these approaches to understanding ethno-nationalist conflict and emphasizing the importance of assessing local level dynamics in tandem with state and international politics in order to explain how an ethnonationalist movement functions.…”

“…In large part the present project's focus on the contemporary Baloch movement requires re-evaluation of the effectiveness of Siddiqi's theoretical analysis in order to expand on the timeframe within which it is applied. Siddiqi's (2012) emphasis on the impact of intra-ethnic conflict on ethno-nationalist movements is shared by authors such as Casperson (2008), Staniland (2012), and Cunningham (2011).…”

“…Instead, Casperson's work (2008) focuses directly on intraethnic rivalry and conflict within nationalist or ethnic movements. Although Casperson's (2008) selection of cases differ significantly from the case of the Baluch movements, the analysis of the internal dynamic of ethno-nationalist movements is of acute importance to the present project.…”

“…Understanding how movements splinter, unify, adapt and evolve internally is fundamental to assessing how they evolve in tandem with state and international factors. Casperson (2008) explains how elites rival each other for leadership within groups, how in-group ethnic audiences may support different leaders for various reasons and how these rivalries affect movements. For Casperson (2008) these intraethnic rivalries affect resource-sharing arrangements, and the supply and prevalence of resources, whether monetary or military, is fundamental to the evolution of the broader ethno-nationalist movement.…”