Recent unrest and political upheaval in Iraq and Georgia have brought attention to the place of minority populations in both countries. Using Iraqi Kurds and the Abkhaz of Georgia as case studies, this book addresses how ethnic identities become politicized across boundaries by states and political entrepreneurs, leading to mobilization of ethnic populations. This book bridges Middle Eastern studies with Post-Soviet studies, exploring the commonalities of cases in these regions to draw out patterns in cases of ethnic mobilization. It also provides a theoretical framework to examine the process of ethnic mobilization. Building on this theoretical framework, the book provides a detailed empirical analysis of the case studies of the Kurds in Iraq and the Abkhaz in Georgia. Analysis of both cases shows several common variables in cases of ethnic mobilization, including ethnic entrepreneurs, political opportunity structure, ethnic identity politicization, and resource mobilization. These variables form the environment in which ethnic mobilization occurs, motivated by such factors as state policy towards ethnic groups and external intervention to support ethnic groups.

David Romano's 2006 book focuses on the Kurdish case to try and make sense of ethnic nationalist resurgence generally. In a world rent by a growing number of such conflicts, the questions posed about why, how and when such challenges to the state are mounted are becoming increasingly urgent. Throughout the author analyses these questions through the lens of social movement theory, considering in particular politico-social structures, resource mobilization strategies and cultural identity. His conclusions offer some thought-provoking insights into Kurdish nationalism, as well as into the strengths and weaknesses of various social movement theories. While the book offers a rigorous conceptual approach, the empirical material - the result of the author's personal experiences - makes it a compelling read. It will find a readership amongst students of the Middle East, and also amongst those interested in ethnic relations, minority rights, terrorism, state repression, social movement theories and many other related issues.

This book offers an unprecedented account of the Serb Democratic Party’s origins and its political machinations that culminated in Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II. Within the first two years of its existence, the nationalist movement led by the infamous genocide convict Radovan Karadzic, radically transformed Bosnian society. It politically homogenized Serbs of Bosnia-Herzegovina, mobilized them for the Bosnian War, and violently carved out a new geopolitical unit, known today as Republika Srpska. Through innovative and in-depth analysis of the Party’s discourse that makes use of the recent literature on affective cognition, the book argues that the movement’s production of existential fears, nationalist pride, and animosities towards non-Serbs were crucial for creating Serbs as a palpable group primed for violence. By exposing this nationalist agency, the book challenges a commonplace image of ethnic conflicts as clashes of long-standing ethnic nations.

“Identity politics” is everywhere, polarizing discourse from the campaign trail to the classroom and amplifying antagonisms in the media, both online and off. But the compulsively referenced phrase bears little resemblance to the concept as first introduced by the radical Black feminist Combahee River Collective. While the Collective articulated a political viewpoint grounded in their own position as Black lesbians with the explicit aim of building solidarity across lines of difference, identity politics is now frequently weaponized as a means of closing ranks around ever-narrower conceptions of group interests. But the trouble, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò deftly argues, is not with identity politics itself. Through a substantive engagement with the global Black radical tradition and a critical understanding of racial capitalism, Táíwò identifies the process by which a radical concept can be stripped of its political substance and liberatory potential by becoming the victim of elite capture—deployed by political, social, and economic elites in the service of their own interests. Táíwò’s crucial intervention both elucidates this complex process and helps us move beyond a binary of “class” vs. “race.” By rejecting elitist identity politics in favor of a constructive politics of radical solidarity, he advances the possibility of organizing across our differences in the urgent struggle for a better world.

Includes statistics.

"In contrast to most migration studies that focus on specific "foreigner" groups in Germany, this study simultaneously compares and contrasts the legal, political, social, and economic opportunity structures facing diverse categories of the ethnic minorities who have settled in the country since the 1950s. It reveals the contradictory, and usually self-defeating, nature of German policies intended to keep "migrants" out - allegedly in order to preserve a German Leitkultur (with which very few of its own citizens still identify). The main barriers to effective integration - and socioeconomic revitalization in general - sooner lie in the country's obsolete labor market regulations and bureaucratic procedures. Drawing on local case studies, personal interviews, and national surveys, the author describes "the human faces" behind official citizenship and integration practices in Germany, and in doing so demonstrates that average citizens are much more multi-cultural than they realize."--BOOK JACKET.

This book explores the ways in which minority groups across the world are reshaping the international minority rights protection system. It documents the actions of four major groups that are using transnational social mobilisation to achieve recognition of their identities and their rights. The result is a greater pluralism in global identity politics and a wide range of new group-specific standards that can inform policies on multiculturalism, political participation, and socio-economic inclusion in the national and international spheres. The book begins by summarising the learning from the global movements of indigenous peoples and Roma. The book then focuses in greater depth on the cases of Afro-descendants in Latin America and of Dalits and caste-affected groups in South Asia and beyond. Each case study shows the historical roots of group-specific transnational mobilisation and how activists have constructed a distinct identity frame out of shared experiences. The book explores key parallels and differences between the discourse, framing strategies, organisational structures and political opportunities used in each case to show which factors have influenced the success or failures of their norm entrepreneurship. The role that international institutions have played in supporting these efforts is given special attention, including intergovernmental bodies such as the UN, the EU and the OAS, and international non-governmental organisations. The UN World Conference Against Racism is explored as a particularly significant political opportunity across the cases. Among academic audiences, this book will appeal to those researching minority rights, social movements, global governance, discrimination and multiculturalism from legal, political, sociological and critical theory perspectives. It will also interest practitioners and activists working on minority rights and the challenges of norm compliance, socio-economic inclusion and governance.

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

Finalist, 2020 C. Wright Mills Award, given by the Society for the Study of Social Problems Honorable Mention, 2021 Asian America Section Book Award, given by the American Sociological Association An inspiring look inside immigrant youth’s political activism in perilous times Undocumented immigrants in the United States who engage in social activism do so at great risk: the threat of deportation. In Organizing While Undocumented, Kevin Escudero shows why and how—despite this risk—many of them bravely continue to fight on the front lines for their rights. Drawing on more than five years of research, including interviews with undocumented youth organizers, Escudero focuses on the movement’s epicenters—San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City—to explain the impressive political success of the undocumented immigrant community. He shows how their identities as undocumented immigrants, but also as queer individuals, people of color, and women, connect their efforts to broader social justice struggles today. A timely, worthwhile read, Organizing While Undocumented gives us a look at inspiring triumphs, as well as the inevitable perils, of political activism in precarious times.

Kurdish Studies Archive publishes the content of volumes 1 to 10 of Kurdish Studies. This interdisciplinary and peer-reviewed journal was dedicated to publishing high-quality research and scholarship. Since 2023 the journal has been continued as the new Kurdish Studies Journal, published by Brill, and focuses on research, scholarship, and debates in the field of Kurdish studies in a multidisciplinary fashion covering a wide range of topics including, but not limited to, economics, history, society, gender, minorities, politics, health, law, environment, language, media, culture, arts, and education.