Ethnicity in political conflicts: ethnicization of politics and politicization of ethnicit

Abstract

The article analyzes the definitions and concepts of ethnopolitical conflict and its contradictory nature is shown. Ethnopolitical conflict can function and evolve as an “ethnized” political conflict and as a politically framed ethnic conflict. Being on the thin line between rational-political and irrational-ethnic regimes of existence, ethno-political conflicts, usually arising as conflicts of interests, as a product of ethnic entrepreneurship, most often drift towards a conflict of identities. That is why ethnopolitical conflicts are among the most intractable types of conflicts, some of them turn into protracted conflicts and are destructive in their manifestations and consequences. The article studies risk-related aspects of the interaction of ethnic and political factors of social development, leading to the ethnicization of politics and politicization of ethnicity, and it is shown that the politicization of ethnicity is a prerequisite and one of the most important factors in the genesis of ethnopolitical conflicts. The process of politicization of ethnicity is caused by ethnopolitical tension objectively established in a particular society or region, but often the main factor of this process is the focused activity of ethnic entrepreneurs, who use conditions, favorable for them, or deliberately increase the level of tension. The article discusses the theoretical and methodological aspects of the politicization of ethnicity and ethnicization of politics, analyzes the main scholarly approaches to studying the phenomenon of politicization of ethnicity and its impact on social processes. Most authors mainly accentuate the negative consequences of the politicization of ethnicity, although some researchers point to the functionality of ethnicity in regional political systems where there are long-standing and strong traditions of combining politics and ethnicity