Cold and Calculated Faith
Abstract
The former USSR and the Eastern Bloc contain a plethora of ethnicities, religions,
and languages that make up nations. However, the nations are not concurrent with their
state boundaries, and separatist conflicts are common. This thesis demonstrates that
when the conflicts are drawn around religious cleavages, tactics used by both sides
result in a greater loss of life. This is due, it suggests, to the ability of religious
institutions to solve intragroup collective action problems, and in the case of post-communist
states in particular, to serve as a surrogate and more potent form of nationalism
for groups disenchanted with nationalist discourse. Additionally, the thesis explores
whether, in cases where the two sides have drastically different religious preferences,
separatists are less likely to accept a compromise as resolution, such as federal
autonomy within the parent state or economic, civil and political rights concessions.
Thus, the duration of the conflict will be extended. Case studies support both claims,
while regression analysis supports the conflict intensity claim.
Description
Finalist for the 2011 Robert F. Durden Prize
Type
Honors thesisDepartment
Political SciencePermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/3596Citation
Gamza, Dustin (2011). Cold and Calculated Faith. Honors thesis, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/3596.Collections
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