Sociology 3363F/G Chapter Notes - Chapter S13: Turkish Nationalism, Islamic Fundamentalism, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1160
30 May 2018
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S#13
Framing Separatism as Terrorism: Lessons from Kosovo
- Separatism and terrorism have interconnections
o IRA, Basque Fatherland and Quebec Liberation Front illustrate terrorism has been a common tool
employed in secessionist struggles
o Not all separatists have resorted to terrorism
- Framing separatism as terrorism allows governments to address the state-challenging phenomena from a different
perspective
o Able to disguise the ethno-nationalists causes of conflict as imminent terrorist threat
o Today governments globally present internal contestations as part of the global struggle against the
international threat of terrorism
o Terrorism justifies different arsenals of responses including broad strategy of military counteroffensives
which might lack legitimacy when countering separatism
o Short-term benefits of framing separatism conflict as terrorism and presents a problem for democratic
principles of governance
- Authorities justify tier military interventions on the grounds of fighting terrorism and were able to transform the
initially peaceful efforts for self0determination into violent conflicts that yet remain to be resolved
- Case of Kovoso is different because the government failed in framing the group as a terrorism threat
o The KLA succeeded in securing international recognition – which prevented further justifications of
Serbian actions in Kovoso on the grounds of terrorism
The Challenge of Separatism
- Separatism presents a challenge for unity of a state
- Separatism is a movement of self-determination and challenge the territorial integrity of a state
o Sep is contrasted with irredentism
- Sep is based on ethno-national movement and encompasses claims based on increased cultural and political rights
for territorial independence
o This definition is based on the distinctions between the ethno-national identities of the separatists group
and the dominant power on the other: demands for greater autonomy or territorial conflicts
- Horowiz “the power ideology of self-determination helps explain the emergence of a political environment to
territorial divisive claims
o Such claims endanger state survival and can be advanced by diverse separatists groups
o The future and success of secessionists movements depends on domestic factors and international
political and involvement
- Peaceful secessions occur as a result of est legal processes
o Contested are more common than peaceful
- Recognition of one ethnic group over anther may trigger demands
o Russia, Turkey and Serbia have had breakdowns of large multi-ethnic entities namely SSR, The Ottoman
Empire and Yugoslavia – these states have tried to preserve the existing power distribution for the fear of
creating a precedent for the replication of the past experience of state collapse
- Secession is not the only option to solve ethno-national conflicts
o They can create effective representations for ethno-national groups in the state power structure
o Lijphart says representation is key for power-sharing which is a mechanism of peaceful coexistence of
ethnic groups within a state
- Power-sharing presents a viable alternative to full independence
- Federalism and conscoiationlism are two principle patters of power-sharing
o Federalism is an arrangement where ethno-national groups enjoy a significant degree of autonomy while
at the same time-sharing participation in the central government
o Canada, Switzerland and Belgium are examples of federal accommodations of multiethnicities
o Consocialtionalism (power-sharing arrangement) applies in cases where ethnic elements are so
intermixed as to preclude successful federal structures
o It offers an alternative where ethnic groups operate and participate within a single government – it’s an
alternative to one single identity
o For example, the Netherlands, Macedonia and Lebanon
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- Power-sharing is thus a powerful mechanism to integrate ethno-national cleavages and address the rising
secessionist demands peacefully and potentially from stable multi-ethnic democracies
o Power-sharing requires institutionalization of ethno-national elements and their accommodation within
the existing power structures which depart from the status quo implying the state would have to
reconsider the current distribution of power
Terrorism as a Solution
- Framing effect: changes in the presentation of an issue can have an effect on our opinions
o Chong and Druckman: one main tenets of the framing theory is the premise that ‘an issue can be
viewed from a variety of perspectives and be construed as having implications for multiple values or
considerations’
o With framing people develop certain conceptualizations regarding the different issues
o Framing assists constructions of reality and a frame refers to the “schemata of interpretation” which
allows individuals to process the information they receive
- Elies rely on framing to manipulate the public
o This results in frames targeting social values in order to generate political support
o Discursive social constructions play an important role in policymaking
o Social construction: a process through which “values and meanings become attached to events, people,
patterns of action or other phenomena”
o Social constructions emerge through frames which targets social values to get political support
- Political framing involves selection and salience
o Selecting certain facts/aspects of life that are more salient (noticeable) through frequent references,
repetitions and associations with culturally familiar symbols
o Frames call attention to aspects while obscuring elements
- Framing the conflict as terrorism has advantages
o First, terrorism is ambiguous, so the state can brand the opposition as a threat – the state can label
separatists as terrorist which criminalize ethnonationality and deprives them of legitimacy instead of
negotiating
o The terrorist rhetoric allows a state to justify harsh measures like military interventions
- Some military interventions trigger human rights responses
o For example, Bush reposes to Russia’s actions on the Chechnya
o Putin then re-framed Chechnya as a terrorist threat
- Framing insurgents as terrorists allows a state to gain legitimacy for its actions
o Terrorism resonates with the publics feelings of imminent threat – the public are willing to accept higher
costs and even give up liberties
o When the public feel the most vulnerable, the climate is conductive for the government to institute
counterterrorist policies that create more intrusive government with more discretions regarding policing
o Fear of terror can be manipulated into a sense of urgency to address the peril and allow governments to
infringe on the rights of ethno-nationalists
- Substituting terrorism for separatism has advantages for the dominant power – but places ethno-nationalists at
disadvantages
o The state loses legitimacy if they threaten the lives of significant portions of their populations by a policy
of ethnic or religious persecution which happens during framing
o Reinares cautions that counterterrorism might disrupt the legal guarantees enjoyed by the citizens
o In terms of ethno-nationalism, the use of vague definitions allows governments to prosecute separatists
and supporters as terrorists
- Framing dynamics is undemocratic and institutionalizes terror from ‘above’ when counterterrorist rhetoric
expands governmental powers and authorities and creates government incentives for the government to
manipulate the label of terrorism at its own discretion
- When fighting ‘terrorist’ (ehtno-nationalists) the state has more liberty to implement policies that can have a more
detrimental effect for a state than the threat of terrorism itself
Successful Framing: Turkey and Russia
- Turkey:
o The Kurds of Turkey are part of a larger Kurdish ethnic groups which is dispersed among the countries of
Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq
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