Settlers in Contested Lands

Territorial Disputes and Ethnic Conflicts
Herausgeber: Haklai, Oded; Loizides, Neophytos

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Oded Haklai is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Studies at Queen's University, Canada. Neophytos Loizides is a Reader in International Conflict Analysis at the University of Kent.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 256
• Erscheinungstermin: 14. Oktober 2015
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 228mm x 151mm x 17mm
• Gewicht: 357g
• ISBN-13: 9780804796507
• ISBN-10: 0804796505
• Artikelnr.: 42786791

Autorenporträt

Oded Haklai is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Studies at Queen's University, Canada. Neophytos Loizides is a Reader in International Conflict Analysis at the University of Kent.

Inhaltsangabe

Contents and Abstracts
1Settlers and Conflict over Contested Territories
chapter abstract
This chapter introduces an innovative theoretical framework for
investigating settlers in contested territories. Defining settlements as
political action involving the organized movement of a population belonging
to one national group into a territory to create a permanent presence and
influence patterns of sovereignty, the theory explores diverse trajectories
relating to how demographic engineering is used in state-building and
state-expansion endeavors. A number of observations are made about the
relationship between the principle of "right-peopling," sovereignty, and
territorial boundaries. The diverse contours of conflict that emerge with
pre-existing populations who make claims on the settled territory are then
explored, with particular attention paid to the accentuated ethnonational
dimension, the time factor, international constraints, and the variable
agency of the settlers as a consequential factor for conflict resolution.
2The Decisive Path of State Indecisiveness: Israeli Settlers in the West
Bank in Comparative Perspective
chapter abstract
In contrast to common perceptions that view this case as sui generis,
Israeli settlements exhibit important familiar patterns observed in other
cases. First, settlement activity is a means to influence territorial
boundaries through demography. Additionally, bureaucratic institutions
accompany population movements. Furthermore, settler identity is
consequential, thus highlighting the relationship between "right-peopling"
a territory and sovereignty. But the Israeli experience also has
distinctive characteristics. Israeli governments have not adopted a
consistent policy regarding settlements. This lack of coherence stems
partly from the dynamic interplay of variable international and regional
conditions, the attributes of Israeli domestic politics, and contested
notions about the relationship between territorial and socio-national
boundaries. Furthermore, Israeli settlers have proven to be a consequential
agent that influences practices beyond what is observed in most other
cases. Ultimately, political outcomes have been influenced by the dynamic
and mutually constitutive interaction between state (and central
government) and settlers.
3Moroccan Settlers in Western Sahara: Colonists or Fifth Column?
chapter abstract
Since occupying the former Spanish Sahara in 1976, Morocco has pursued
active and passive settlement policies resulting in significant changes in
the territory's population, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Though
the territory now boasts a large Moroccan population (perhaps outnumbering
the indigenous Sahrawis by as much as three-to-one), very little is known
about the demographic composition of these settlers and their relationship
to the broader political question of Western Saharan independence. Not only
are there strong reasons to question many of the assumptions about the
politics of settlers and of natives in Western Sahara but there are also
unique dynamics at play in this conflict that hold insights for
understanding the politics of settlement in contested territories more
broadly.
4Settlement, Sovereignty, and Social Engineering. Fascist Settlement Policy
between Nation and Empire
chapter abstract
Was Mussolini's settlement program in Libya in the 1930s merely a further
installment of European settler colonialism? The chapter explores the
program in light of broader demographic policies implemented by the Fascist
regime, not only on the North African shore but also in the newly annexed
territories in northern Italy. Rooting Italian families in contested soil,
the Fascist state became the primary motor: initiating, organizing, and
financing the settlements with the stated aim of nationalizing contested
lands. While resembling strategies of colonial settlement, these programs
aimed at consolidating and expanding the Italian nation, thus marking a
transition to the use of population settlement as a tool of nation- rather
than empire-building.
5The Indonesian Settlement Project in East Timor
chapter abstract
On December 7, 1975, Indonesia invaded East Timor, and controlled the
region for the next twenty-four years. Alongside military control, Jakarta
transferred into the territory tens of thousands of Indonesian nationals.
This chapter analyzes the Indonesian population transfer into East Timor.
Placing the settlement project in the broader context of the Indonesian
claim to East Timor, it explores the fundamental aspects of the population
transfer. It also explains why the Indonesian settlement project was
initiated and pursed, including an investigation of the manner in which
Indonesia used the settlers as part of its effort to subdue local
resistance and deflect international opposition to its rule in the area.
6Settlers and State-Building: The Kirkuk Case
chapter abstract
This chapter examines the migrations of Arab settlers to Iraqi Kurdistan
after 1963 and their impact on negotiating the disputed territory of
Kirkuk. It argues that demographic shifts and the actual numbers of Arab
settlers have played a key role in framing Kurdish claims to Kirkuk,
particularly as they have affected population percentages and distribution
of resources. However, while the presence of settler communities may have
played a key role in the early phase of the Kurdish authorities making
claims to Kirkuk, their influence has weakened over time as the Kirkuk
issue has taken on a life of its own. Changes in the nature of the Kirkuk
problem and the framing processes linked to it will provide the basis for
conflict resolution strategies.These will include issues of power sharing
between Kurds and Arabs, as well as with other minority groups, governance
issues, and revenue sharing.
7Settlers, Immigrants, Colonists: The Three Layers of Settler-Induced
Conflict in Sri Lanka
chapter abstract
This chapter analyzes the role of settlers and settler-related rhetoric in
ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, illustrating the different layers and shades
that such conflicts can involve. It distinguishes between a discursive
element (rhetoric and accusations of "settlers" and "settlement"), a
temporal element (the historical time frame in which population movements
took place) and a structural/situational element (whether this movement was
driven by market forces or whether it was state-sponsored, as well as the
material condition of the people introduced to the land). Sinhalese
agitation against the Indian Tamil plantation workers and the policy of
expelling them to India (which was halted in the 1980s) is compared with
Sri Lankan Tamil agitation against Sinhalese irrigation and settlement
projects in the so-called dry zone which significantly contributed to
inter-communal violence before and during the civil war.
8Settlers, Mobilization, and Displacement in Cyprus: Antinomies of Ethnic
Conflict and Immigration Politics
chapter abstract
The post-1974 Turkish colonization of Cyprus is seen as a violation of
Article 49 of the Geneva Convention of 1949 and an obstacle to the future
reunification of the island. Yet settlers in Cyprus are not monolithically
attached to expansionist nationalism and often share comparable concerns
about and vulnerabilities to migrant populations. This chapter examines the
causes of non-politicization among the Turkish settlers and sets the
Cypriot experience apart from the current literature on colonization and
displacement in contested territories. It also presents a set of novel
institutional arrangements aiming to balance humanitarian and justice
considerations focusing on the territorial and human rights aspects of
peace settlements.
9Conclusion: The Political Dynamics of Settlement Projects: The Central
State-Settler-Native Triangle
chapter abstract
The studies in this volume explore the complex legacies of state-sponsored
settlement of outlying and not-fully-absorbed territories. The starting
point was the expectation flowing from Lustick's work that effective
settler mobilization combined with clumsy state policies and antagonistic
reactions by natives would produce long-term problems of oppression by the
settlers, violent reaction by the natives, and destabilization of the
central state. On the whole, the authors show that the Israeli-Palestinian
case, however similar in detailed dynamics to the British-Irish and
French-Algerian relationships, is in important ways misleading as a
framework for anticipating the impact of settlement elsewhere. Although the
settler-native-central state triangle does appear in each episode, the
emphasis in each case is mainly on one side.