Ethnic Conflict - A Systematic Approach to Cases of Conflict, by Neal Jesse and Kristen Williams, CQ Press, 2011.
An intriguing idea was tackled with this volume: to bridge the gap between comparative politics and international relations and to begin to design a systematic approach for ethnic conflict. Such high hopes however are not fully met. This work falls back into the standard format of many volumes on ethnic conflict, the qualitative case study, while the more innovative and new contribution – incorporating a more generalized, theoretical approach – is basically abandoned. With the major conclusion being acknowledged as the fact that no one theory or factor can account for ethnic conflicts, readers are left with an argument that has dominated the discipline from the beginning. No one theory, no one size, no one factor – so much for bridging the gap to a more systematic approach. There is even some fault to be found with the case studies – they represent a rather bland and standard selection of famous cases (Israel, Northern Ireland, Sudan, etc). Dealing with levels of analysis and discussing the application of theory was and remains a fascinating idea for ethnic conflict. One simply wishes this volume tackled the task more comprehensively.
