E-grāmata: Nationalism and Intra-State Conflicts in the Postcolonial World

Intra-state ethnic conflict remains a topic of perennial interest, not least because most of the worlds states have ethnically diverse populations. Fonkem Achankengs volume presents both theoretical analyses of national conflicts in post-colonial contexts as well as a diverse collection studies from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The volume provides a valuable service to the comparative study of nationalism by emphasizing lesser-studied case studies whose peculiarities bring forth new perspectives. -- Alexander Maxwell, Victoria University of Wellington In this most relevant and significant book, two conflict-causing applications of nationalism are courageously addressed. Post-colonial power elites still use it as an imported rationale behind top-down attempts to unify population groups within a state. At various times and places, however, suppressed groups use it as a banner in their bottom-up struggles to acquire self-determination. The widely spread problem of reconciling national(ist) aspirations is frankly discussed in the foreword, four general chapters and eighteen case-specific chapters (covering five continents). Some questions inevitably have to remain open, but meaningful guidelines towards resolving these extremely complex conflicts are given especially to the groups who themselves hold the key to their freedom.   -- Jannie Malan, The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes