POLI 244 Lecture Notes - Xenophobia
9 Jun 2012
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Bangladesh was created by india when it wanted to separate from pakistan. Somalia supported separatist groups in ethiopia, and vice versa. There is less ethnic conflicts in today"s world than 50 years ago. Just because it"s more present in the media. Many states vulnerable to ethnic conflict do not act in other ethnic conflicts. But throwing away these boundaries would be costly to everyone. Support separatist groups in other countries to weaken adversaries e. g. creation of bangladesh insured india that there was no adversary anymore on their east boundaries. Supporting secessionism is the weapon of the weak. Supporting rebels in another country is just another way to cause pain e. g. iraq supported the kurds in iran, and iran supported the kurds in iraq; no one really cared about the kurds though. Just a tool for both sides to bargain. Separatist groups are just tools for coercive bargaining.
