Identity and war: comparisons and connections between the Balkans and the Middle East

ABSTRACT

While comparisons and connections between the Balkans and the Middle East are often invoked, the authors in this symposium are putting them at the heart of their analysis. In seeking new insights into the relationship between identity and war they engage in “comparative area studies.” The comparisons, connections, and lessons that emerge from these contributions challenge our understandings of the so-called “war on terror”, the dynamics of grassroots peacebuilding, and the language of sexualised violence in war. The symposium contributes to the debate about how comparative area studies can bridge the gap between area studies and comparative politics and international relations.

KEYWORDS:

• Politicisation of identity
• Balkan Islam
• Israeli–Palestinian reconciliation
• war rape in Bosnia
• the Balkans and the Middle East
• comparative area studies

Notes on contributors

Erika Harris is Professor of Politics and director of the “Europe and the World Centre” at the University of Liverpool. She is the author of Nationalism Theories and Cases (Edinburgh University Press 2009), Democracy in the New Europe (with C. Lord, Palgrave 2006) and Nationalism and Democratisation Politics of Slovakia and Slovenia (Ashgate 2002). She has published article in Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Europe- Asia, Nations and Nationalism, and other journals, and is a frequent contributor to Slovak and international media.

Hannes Baumann’s is Lecturer at the University of Liverpool. His main research interests are in international political economy, the political economy of development, and the politics of ethnicity and nationalism. His regional expertise is the Middle East. He is the author of “Citizen Hariri: Neoliberal politics in Lebanon” (Hurst 2016/Oxford University Press 2017) and a variety of articles published in Globalisations, Third World Quarterly, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, and the Arab Studies Journal.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Erika Harris http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9284-0215

Notes

1 The symposium grew out of a workshop on “War and Identity in the Balkans and the Middle East” organised by the Europe and the World Centre (EWC) at the University of Liverpool in April 2018. The authors would like to thank all the participants and especially Mate Subašić who was central to organising the workshop.