Settlers in Contested Lands: Territorial Disputes and Ethnic Conflicts

by Oded Haklai (Editor), Neophytos Loizides (Editor)

Settlers feature in many protracted territorial disputes and ethnic conflicts around the world. Explaining the dynamics of the politics of settlers in contested territories in several contemporary cases, this book illuminates how settler-related conflicts emerge, evolve, and are significantly more difficult to resolve than other disputes.

Written by country experts, chapters consider Israel and the West Bank, Arab settlers in Kirkuk, Moroccan settlers in Western Sahara, settlers from Fascist Italy in North Africa, Turkish settlers in Cyprus, Indonesian settlers in East Timor, and Sinhalese settlers in Sri Lanka. Addressing four common topics-right-sizing the state, mobilization and violence, the framing process, and legal principles versus pragmatism-the cases taken together raise interrelated questions about the role of settlers in conflicts in contested territory. Then looking beyond the similar characteristics, these cases also illuminate key differences in levels of settler mobilization and the impact these differences can have on peace processes to help explain different outcomes of settler-related conflicts. Finally, cases investigate the causes of settler mobilization and identify relevant conflict resolution mechanisms.

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2015

Reviews

[Marisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read a book about territorial disputes. I did like the perspective of this book, focusing on central state-settler-native relations in regions like Israel, Sri Lanka, Cyprus, and Morocco. But the writing was dense and seemed overly complicated. There was an opportunity for more editorial oversight here. Otherwise, it was interesting and educational.

[Mills College Library]

325.3 S4959 2015