Monitoring of ethnicity, conflicts and cohesion
On the whole, the conflict level in all states and regions has been rather low in recent years .At the same time, one cannot help but notice the considerable ethnic component of public contradictions. From that, one can draw the conclusion that the conflict potential in the post-Soviet states is quite substantial.
Despite the great diversity in situations and administrative policies, the only possible strategy for state building in the ex-USSR countries is the gradual dismantling of the ethno-nationalism doctrine and policy that was built on the principle of protecting the ethnic community, chosen as the “state-generator” .In order to avoid ethnic conflict in multicultural post-Soviet states, it is necessary to assert the national (civil) identity, to carry out the policy of supporting multiple cultures, to accept ethnic diversity, and to allow ethnic self-determination by permitting all ethnic groups to take part in the public and political process.
V. Tishkov
In 1996-2002, the Network for Ethnic Monitoring and Early Warning (EAWARN) participated in the UNESCO-sponsored project titled Monitoring of ethnicity, conflict and cohesion. The goal of the project was to study correlations between the phenomena of ethnicity, conflicts, and state building in the period of social and political transformations on the post-Soviet countries. This was supposed to help in the creation of a model of ethno-confessional monitoring of multi-cultural societies.
Over the course of these years, the experts conducted multi-parameter examinations of ethnic processes, contradictions and conflicts in the states of the former Soviet Union. The project consisted of three stages and included numerous sub-projects.
During the first preparatory stage (1996-1997), experts planned EAWARN’s research and developed the methodology for multi-parameter supervision and the analysis of societal and political crisis situations. The specialists also tested the method of monographic study for ethno-political situation at the country/regional level.
The second stage (1998-2000 гг.) was the active phase of the project. The majority of EAWARN experts participated in the project. Using a common research method, the experts contribute to a monitoring database that allowed them to carry out comparative evaluation of territories by using special categories and indicators of conflict. The received data was published in the form of regional monographs. The results and the experience of the experts’ complex work were discussed at EAWARN’s annual seminars in Spain (1999) and Turkey (2000).
The third, concluding stage (2001-2002) of the project involved continued research using a common methodology and the publication of a series of monographs. The project was concluded with the publication of a summary analytical report, where the models of regional and country conflicts were constructed by using the dynamic parameters of the long-term observation that was done by the rules of the ethnological monitoring system.
V. Stepanov