Ethnic conflicts

Ethnic conflicts are clashes of representatives of various nationalities, the cause of which are specific features in culture, traditions and life, as well as social inequality. The problems that arise between nations are relevant to their researchers.

The main reason for close attention is the difficulty of resolving these skirmishes, which currently serve as the most common source of controversy in society and cause political instability.

Ethnic conflicts existing in the modern world are identified as ethno-religious-territorial. This kind of tension can be attributed to the Karabakh and Georgian-Abkhaz, Ulster, and Basque crises.
At present, ethnic conflicts continue to destabilize the situation in Latin America. They are also observed in the African states.

Ethnic conflicts in Russia are also a serious problem. The most vivid example of this can serve as a war in Chechnya, which unfolded on the territory of the Russian Federation.

The structure of national clashes is determined by two basic elements. On the one hand, for their emergence, it is necessary to separate people according to national characteristics, and on the other hand, the presence of an object of confrontation.

Subjects of conflict situations can be individuals as well as classes, groups, communities, organizations, states and international institutions. In order to analyze crisis situations, it is important to distinguish between parties that initiate and dominate aggressive actions in it. In this case, not always the same subject provokes a clash and turns out to be the determining force.

Ethnic conflicts have their own peculiarities, which consist in changing the ratio of the groups participating in them. Especially this pattern is 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 conflict consciousness, the formation of which is based on the state of public opinion.

The subject of inter-ethnic clashes can serve as 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 the legal right;
- Leaders of political and social movements, as well as their programs;
- religious beliefs;
- freedom and rights of the individual;
- different traditions;
- aesthetic and moral ideals and so on.

In other words, everything that is a component of social life can relate to the object of confrontation.

The reasons for 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 fairness in interethnic relations.

The causes of clashes related to direct conflicts 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 the crisis and significantly complicates it.

In any multinational state, issues affecting the sphere of politics, culture or economy, without fail, also acquire an ethnic expression. The likelihood of occurrence, as well as the severity of conflicts between representatives of different groups, is directly dependent on the policy of the country.