Ethnonationalist dimensions of internal conflict : the case of Bougainville secessionism / by Stephanie Lawson.

Abstract

The spectre of war and conflict is now, more than ever, likely to be seen within the boundaries of states rather than between states. While the causes of these conflicts are sufficiently complex to defy simplistic explanations, it is obvious that many of them are ideologically grounded in a brand of nationalism inspired largely by ethnic considerations. This is especially so where secession is demanded by one party to the conflict as the only just solution. In these cases, the doctrine of the right to self-determination is invoked (either implicitly or explicitly) against the legitimacy of the state, its sovereignty, and its territorial integrity. To acknowledge a right to secede on the basis of ethnicity, however, would be to endorse virtually unlimited political fragmentation in a world whose states are, almost without exception, characterised by ethnic diversity. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the state of Papua New Guinea which contains well over 700 different linguistic groups. Here the legitimacy of the central state apparatus is particularly vulnerable to challenge and there is enormous potential for ethnically-driven political fragmentation. Some might argue that Bougainville is a 'special case' on a number of grounds, but to grant that the Bougainvillean secessionists have a just cause for war against the central government on any basisof ethnicity is to invite disaster for the state. This paper was presented at the Asian Peace Research Association Conference Peace and Security in the Asia-Pacific Region: Post-Cold War Problems and Prospects', University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, 31 January - 4 February 1992.