Ethnic Conflicts

Ruanda

Over 800 000 people were killed in an unimaginable genocide over just 3 months in 1994 in Rwanda. Tutsis were systematically targeted by extremist Hutus and killed based on ethnic identity alone. Although some were quick to blame ancient tribal hatreds for the bloodshed, more reflective analyses highlight the significance of the social construction of ethnicity. But adopting a constructivist outlook begs important questions: where and how is ethnicity constructed? Furthermore, since the existence of ethnicity alone does not explain conflict, its politicization and mobilization need deeper examination. One potential site of the creation, mobilization and politicization of conflict-creating ethnic divisiveness that has received inadequate attention from political scientists is the formal education system. Schools are among the major influences on identity and attitudes toward the other, yet their impact on conflict has largely been ignored. Based on interviews conducted in Rwanda, and supported by document analysis, this paper argues that Rwanda?s formal education system contributed to the building of divisive ethnic identities fostering social fragmentation during both the colonial period, and from independence to the genocide of 1994. Such findings have important implications for Rwanda?s future and for other countries endeavouring to build enduring peace and prevent violent conflict.

Yugoslavia

The current ethnic conflict in what was formerly Yugoslavia has roots that extend far back into history. The nationhood of the different ethnic groups in Yugoslavia was always somewhat artificial, brought about by the force of circumstances after World War I more than by a desire on the part of the different groups to be joined together under one banner. The nationalistic feelings in Yugoslavia extend back to the nineteenth century, to the era of nationalism throughout Europe. The ethnic groups in the region have long been divided by cultural differences, religion, and language. Efforts to unify the region failed until after World War I, when the impetus to come together increased for economic and security reasons. Yet, the nation that emerged was always tenuous because the union did not satisfy the needs of all the groups equally. Tensions seethed beneath the surface for the period of independent rule, and they continued under the domination by the Communists, who were able to keep the groups together only by the threat of force and by imposition of all structure and regulation from above. In this atmosphere, ethnic differences produced virulent actions taken by one group against another, leading to what have been defined by the international community as war crimes. The first trial for such crimes is set for next April; the issue is whether the Nuremburg Principles should be applied to this and subsequent trials.

The Holocaust 

Also known as The Shoah, was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored extermination by Nazi Germany throughout Nazi-occupied territory. Approximately two-thirds of the population of nine million Jews who had resided in Europe before the Holocaust perished.Some scholars maintain that the definition of the Holocaust should also include the Nazis' genocide of millions of people in other groups, includingRomani (more commonly known in English by the exonym "Gypsies"), Soviet prisoners of war, Polish and Soviet civilians, homosexuals, people with disabilities, Jehovah's Witnesses and other political and religious opponents, which occurred regardless of whether they were of German or non-German ethnic origin. By this definition, the total number of Holocaust victims would be between 11 million and 17 million people.

The persecution and genocide were carried out in stages. Various legislation to remove the Jews from civil society, predominantly theNuremberg Laws, was enacted in Nazi Germany years before the outbreak of World War II. Concentration camps were established in which inmates were used as slave labor until they died of exhaustion or disease. Where the Third Reich conquered new territory in eastern Europe, specialized units called Einsatzgruppen murdered Jews and political opponents in mass shootings. The Third Reich required Jews and Romani to be confined in overcrowded ghettos before being transported by freight train to extermination camps where, if they survived the journey, the majority of them were systematically killed in gas chambers. Every arm of Nazi Germany's bureaucracy was involved in the logistics that led to the genocides, turning the Third Reich into what one Holocaust scholar has called "a genocidal state".Opinions differ on how much the civilian population of Germany knew about the government conspiracy against the Jewish population. Most historians claim that the civilian population was not aware of the atrocities that were carried out, especially in the extermination camps, which were located outside of Germany in Nazi-occupied Europe. The historian Robert Gellately, however, claims that the government openly announced the conspiracy through the media, and that civilians were aware of every aspect of the conspiracy except for the use of gas chambers.Significant historical evidence points to the idea that the vast majority of Holocaust victims, prior to their deportation to concentration camps, were either unaware of the fate that awaited them, or were in disbelief of the information that they had received; they honestly believed that they were to be resettled.