Refining the Line of Distinction between Ethnic Conflict and Security Dilemma : Towards a Theory of Identity Driven Ethnic Conflict

The concept of security dilemma has been widely applied to ethnic conflicts
in former Yugoslavia and the post-Soviet space. This paper argues that for
both methodological clarity and policy formation, we should distinguish
between ethnic conflicts caused by security dilemma and ones triggered
by ethnic identity. It is argued that identity plays a different role in security
dilemmas, but a major one in identity-based ethnic conflicts. Although ethnic
identity may be at stake in the operation and dynamics of security dilemma,
it is not the causal variable in the outbreak of ethnic conflict. Identity-based
conflicts may reproduce many of the features of the security dilemma but
have other causal factors. Distinguishing between the differing role of identity in security dilemma and identity based-ethnic conflicts may further our
understanding of why certain conflicts have become so intractable, while
others are relatively easier to resolve. For testing the hypothesis, empirical
evidence is presented from two conflicts in the post-Soviet space with
variations in the causal variable.