Levine's Argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Levine's Argument - Essay Example of ethnicity varies across the world, depending upon the political context; despite its modern political definition of self-defined communities seeking their own political space, not necessarily statehood. For example tribalism in parts of Africa, or color in the Eurocentric view of ethnicity are entirely different concepts. A set of propositions have been provided as an inventory – focusing on consciousness of separateness that leads to an ethnic identity amongst various populations. However the relationship of such concepts to the sources of ethnic conflict is far less certain, particularly in view of economics and Marxian class struggle which is often inherent in such conflicts. The stages and paths of ethnic conflicts are described next, with the admission these factors often remain obscure and difficult to generalize. In most cases, if the roots and sources are analyzed retrospectively, a conflict goes through early stages when the respective parties take their position – to a final stage when the conflict has got out of control. What often complicates the situation are those instances where single incidents sparked off ethnic violence e.g. Ayodhya in India (1992) and the Rwandan plane crash (1994). Biological models of ontogeny and life paths are referred to, with incipient, plateau and open stages in an attempt to identify the best points to intervene as well as define a conflict in its evolutionary perspective rather than empirical models of causality. The third important point that has been raised is the fact that ethnicity and ethnic conflicts are often best defined during the phase of intervention by mediators in an attempt to solve it. Every such conflict has its unique features, whether governments are involved or not, whether the conflicting parties themselves want to resolve a dispute or aim for a disruption in their social and geographical ties, and critically who tries to intervene. The nature of the intervention also varies with the