State Identities and the Homogenisation of Peoples (Cambridge Studies in International Relations, Series Number 84)

Why are forced displacement, ethnic cleansing and genocide an enduring feature of state systems? In this book, Heather Rae locates these practices of 'pathological homogenisation' in the processes of state building. Political elites have repeatedly used cultural resources to redefine bounded political communities as exclusive moral communities, from which outsiders must be expelled. Showing that these practices predate the age of nationalism, Rae examines cases from both pre-nationalist and nationalist eras: the expulsion of the Jews from fifteenth century Spain, the persecution of the Huguenots under Louis XIV, and in the twentieth century, the Armenian genocide, and ethnic cleansing in former Yugoslavia. She argues that those atrocities prompted the development of international norms of legitimate state behaviour that increasingly define sovereignty as conditional. Rae concludes by examining two 'threshold' cases - the Czech Republic and Macedonia - to identify the factors that may inhibit pathological homogenization as a method of state-building. "Why have forced displacement, ethnic cleansing and genocide been an enduring feature of the modern state system? In this ground-breaking book, Heather Rae locates these practices of 'pathological homogenisation' in the processes of state-building. Political elites have repeatedly used available cultural resources to redefine bounded political communities as exclusive moral communities, from which outsiders must be expelled. Showing that these practices predate the age of nationalism, Rae examines cases from both the pre-nationalist and nationalist eras: the expulsion of the Jews from fifteenth-century Spain, the persecution of the Huguenots under Louis XIV and, in the twentieth century, the Armenian genocide and the ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. She argues that those atrocities have prompted the development of international norms of legitimate state behaviour that increasingly define sovereignty as conditional. Rae concludes by examining two 'threshold' cases - the Czech Republic and Macedonia - to identify the factors that may inhibit pathological homogenisation as a method of state-building."--Jacket This book examines the victimization of minority groups through history. The author argues that genocides, expulsions and forced assimilations have been the result of the efforts of rulers' wish to assert their control and legitimacy. By bringing uniformity to the populations within their boundaries, they legitimate their hold on power. This book thus shows how nationalist ideologies have influenced the form of the international state system, drawing on the experiences of Jews and Moors in Spain, Protestants in France, Armenians in Turkey, and minorities in the former Yugoslavia. Victimization of ethnic and religious minorities has been used by rulers throughout history to assert their own control and legitimacy over communities brought together against alleged 'outsiders'. Rae demonstrates how these practices predate nationalism and how they prompted the development of international norms for legitimate state behaviour. Within the study of international relations surprisingly little attention has been paid to the relationship between strategies of pathological homogenisation and state formation.

heather Rae Examines How State Leaders Use The Victimisation Of Minorities To Legitimise Their Authority.

Heather Rae. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 311-337) And Index.