Ethnic conflicts are clashes of representatives of various nationalities, the cause of which are specific features in culture, traditions and everyday life, as well as social inequality. Problems arising between nations are relevant for their researchers.
The main reason for close attention is the issue of the difficulty of resolving these hassles, which currently serve as the most common source of controversy in society and cause political instability.
Ethnic conflicts that exist in the modern world are identified as ethno-religious-territorial. This kind of tension can include the Karabakh and Georgian-Abkhazian, Ulster, as well as Basque crises.
Ethnic conflicts are continuing to destabilize Latin American countries. They are observed in African countries.
Ethnic conflicts in Russia are also a serious problem. The most striking example of this is the war in Chechnya, which unfolded on the territory of the Russian Federation.
The structure of national clashes is determined by two main elements. On the one hand, for their occurrence, it is necessary to separate people according to national characteristics, and on the other, the presence of an object of confrontation.
The subjects of conflict situations can be both individuals and classes, groups, communities, organizations, states and international institutions. In order to analyze crisis situations, it is important to distinguish between the parties that initiate and dominate aggressive actions. At the same time, one and the same subject does not always provoke a skirmish and turns out to be the determining driven force.
Ethnic conflicts have their own characteristics, which consist in changing the ratio of the groups participating in them. This pattern is especially characteristic of class and international conflicts. For military confrontations, this is the rule, although historical facts indicate that there were wars without winners. The actions, as well as the behavior of the parties, are determined by the conflicting consciousness, the formation of which is based on the state of public opinion.
The subject of interethnic clashes can be both material and spiritual objects, in relation to which opposing opinions are formed. These may include:
- social and economic benefits;
- spiritual and material values;
- political regime;
- institutes of legal law;
- leaders of political and social movements, as well as their programs;
- religious beliefs;
- freedom and individual rights;
- various traditions;
- aesthetic and moral ideals and so on.
In other words, everything that is a component of social life can be related to the subject of confrontation.
The causes of ethnic conflicts may be different. However, all confrontations have one source. The main reason for any conflict is the violation of the rights and freedoms of a particular ethnic group, as well as the lack of equality and justice in interethnic relations.
The causes of direct clashes may be contradictions in territorial, political, economic and social issues. It should also be borne in mind that the subjective factor plays a dominant role in unleashing a crisis and significantly complicates it.
In any multinational state, issues affecting the sphere of politics, culture or economics, without fail, acquire ethnic expression. The likelihood of occurrence, as well as the severity of conflicts between representatives of different groups, is directly dependent on the country's policy.