Search

Soon after independence, India's northeastern region was swamped in a series of conflicts starting with the Naga secessionist movement in the 1950s, followed by others in the 1960s. The conflicts intensified and engulfed the entire region in the 1970s and 1980s. However, in the 1990s, following reclamation of ethnic identities amid gnawing scarcities, the conflicts slowly turned into internal feuds. Consequently, alliance and re-alliance among the ethnic groups transpired. In the 2000s, it finally led to the balkanization of ethnicity-based autonomy movements in the region. Unfortunately, the state's ad-hoc measures failed to contain protected conflicts and, instead, compounded the situation and swelled hybrid ethnic identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article critically evaluates Hroch's theory in light of the Sindhi and Baloch national movements in Pakistan. At the heart of the issue are the social preconditions and the stage theory which Hroch posits to comprehend both the formation of nations and origins of the national movement. As far as social preconditions are concerned, the article contests the overarching notion in Hroch's theory that only when a complete class structure develops that the nation comes into being and the national movement itself is successful. With respect to the stage theory, the article brings into contention the variable of 'intra-ethnic conflict' or the conflicts which inheres within nations. This makes the linear progression from Stage A to B to C, as Hroch identifies, difficult to achieve because within a single nation multiple national movements exist. In such a scenario, one can depict a stage theory for each national movement within a single nation. Finally, I argue, that in order to understand nation formation and national movements, it is imperative that the ideological orientation of national movements, or in other words, nationalism should also be put in proper perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the concept of ethnic conflict in the cases of Bosnia, India and Pakistan. Confusion about ethnicity; Need to define ethnic groups or communities as a concept of action with religion as ethnicenter; Shaping of ethnic groups with the help of historical myths, language construction and instrumentalized customs; Patterns of contrast; Interest of elites; Clientelism of foreign powers.