TY - JOUR

T1 - Transnational Ethnic Channels as Factors of Contagion, Internationalization, and the “Proxyfication” of Internal Conflicts

T2 - The Contrasting Cases of Amazighs and Kurds

AU - Golubev, Denis S.

N1 - Denis S. Golubev (2021) Transnational Ethnic Channels as Factors of Contagion, Internationalization, and the “Proxyfication” of Internal Conflicts: The Contrasting Cases of Amazighs and Kurds, The Journal of the Middle East and Africa, 12:1, 19-48, DOI: 10.1080/21520844.2021.1877494

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - The article raises the issue of why some transnational ethnic groups (TEGs) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are more effective transmitters of conflict and instability across established borders than others. The cases involving Kurds and Amazighs present some interesting variations of agency for both groups with regard to the external expansion of internal conflicts in some of the countries of their residence. A comparative analysis of the divergent experiences of Kurds and Amazighs with respect to contagion, internationalization (mostly through intervention), and what one might term the “proxyfication” of relevant conflicts in the region reveals some underlying factors that help construct the author’s main argument and working hypotheses for the large-N empirical part of this study. What emerges is strong empirical support for the proposition that four characteristics of MENA-based TEGs–namely, group discrimination, the relative size of the group, the ethnic polarization of the group’s state of residence, and the group’s territorial concentration–all to some extent serve as factors of external expansion of internal ethnic conflict. Out of these four features, group discrimination and the territorial concentration of the group, which are the factors about which the Kurds and Amazighs appear to differ the most, turn out to be the most reliable predictors of TEG-based conflict expansion.

AB - The article raises the issue of why some transnational ethnic groups (TEGs) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are more effective transmitters of conflict and instability across established borders than others. The cases involving Kurds and Amazighs present some interesting variations of agency for both groups with regard to the external expansion of internal conflicts in some of the countries of their residence. A comparative analysis of the divergent experiences of Kurds and Amazighs with respect to contagion, internationalization (mostly through intervention), and what one might term the “proxyfication” of relevant conflicts in the region reveals some underlying factors that help construct the author’s main argument and working hypotheses for the large-N empirical part of this study. What emerges is strong empirical support for the proposition that four characteristics of MENA-based TEGs–namely, group discrimination, the relative size of the group, the ethnic polarization of the group’s state of residence, and the group’s territorial concentration–all to some extent serve as factors of external expansion of internal ethnic conflict. Out of these four features, group discrimination and the territorial concentration of the group, which are the factors about which the Kurds and Amazighs appear to differ the most, turn out to be the most reliable predictors of TEG-based conflict expansion.

KW - Amazighs

KW - conflict expansion

KW - contagion

KW - ethnic conflict

KW - internationalization

KW - Kurds

KW - proxyfication

KW - transnational ethnic groups

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102881215&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/dec50d96-e8b8-3c3e-b39f-528af1954da4/

U2 - 10.1080/21520844.2021.1877494

DO - 10.1080/21520844.2021.1877494

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85102881215

VL - 12

SP - 19

EP - 48

JO - Journal of the Middle East and Africa

JF - Journal of the Middle East and Africa

SN - 2152-0844

IS - 1

ER -