Reading 10:
Barry R. Posen: The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict
This article applies the realist theory of the Security Dilemma to explain the early resort to violence in
countries where the imperial order breaks down,
that is,
when “proximate groups of people suddenly find
themselves newly responsible for their own security.”
•
The first thing that groups (ethnic, religious, or cultural) must face when no state remains, is the
primary things which states themselves face—the problem of security.
•
The Security Dilemma is particularly intense when 2 conditions hold:
o
When offensive and defensive military forces are more or less identical. “States” cannot signal their
defensive intent. Newly independent groups must determine whether neighboring groups are threats
and can examine one anothers capabilities by assessing the others
cohesion
and
past military
record.
•
Cohesion
: the groupness of groups emerging from collapsed empires gives
each of them an inherent offensive military power.
Strong national identities have
been recognized as the key ingredient of the combat powers of armies ever since the
French Revolution. But Cohesion/solidarity is hard to determine by the other, so it is
This
preview
has intentionally blurred sections.
Sign up to view the full version.
This is the end of the preview.
Sign up
to
access the rest of the document.
- Fall '07
- Bloom
- Armed forces, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nuclear weapon
-
Click to edit the document details
