Social Capital Approach for Explaining Ethnic Conflicts Within a Liberal Society

This paper examines the reasons why many ethnic movements surge in liberal societies-even though these societies are supposed to enable the coexistence of different types of people-and whether it is possible to resolve ethnic conflicts within these societies. Social capital, such as mutual trust, diffusion of information, and social support is used in this discussion, as successful coexistence in a liberal society is only possible when social capital is adequately provided to all people. Since social capital is generated from social networks, minorities want networks that may increase the likelihood that they will attain an adequate level of social capital. They attempt to build such networks by making their cultural symbols recognized by others. Confrontations that result from this kind of movement often cause ethnic conflicts. The key to resolution, then, is whether a broad network can be built, to which all different people are satisfactorily connected. As a result, this paper shows that even though such a resolution is theoretically possible, in reality there are three serious obstacles： （1） people tend to be driven by strong emotions; （2） people cannot accurately estimate the extent of suffering and/or the level of required support; and （3） minorities＇ primary networks are too solidified to be connected suitably to the wider network. These findings will contribute to the further argument of what conditions should be met in order to take feasible measures to resolve ethnic conflicts within a liberal society.

Ethnic and Religious Conflicts in Asia and the Pacific

Backgrounds and Features According to recent annual reports by both Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and Londonbased International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), twenty to thirty armed conflicts and local wars in various forms take place every year in the world since the 1990s.

Gender in/Equality in Nation-Building:The Breakup of Yugoslavia and the Cases of Serbia and Kosovo

The ethnic conflict in Yugoslavia was manifested with the rape of women.Rape has been used as the strongest weapon by nationalist forces where the women’s body has been used as a target to fight the enemy.During the breakup of Yugoslavia,the“other”was not just based on ethnic identity,but also gendered and sexualized.However,the nationalism between Kosovo and Serbia were core of the conflict in Yugoslavia,which continued even after the conflict.In Serbian history the“other”has generally always been the Albanians,who were described as uncivilized,Easter.For Albanians,“the other”was not only Serbians but the“Slavs”in general who were described as barbarians and oppressors.The brutality of the ethnic conflicts in Yugoslavia shows how ethnic hatred has been provoked in order to construct the new frontiers between the other states.Nevertheless,the assumption of entering the democratic state did not change the role of women in society significantly.It is noticeable that in the post conflict societies there is a need to go back to the traditional values.After the breakup of Yugoslavia in both Serbia and Kosovo societies there was an apparent need to rebuild the nation,which was based on the traditional values of these two respective countries.