Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SeReNa-SEA (The Divine Tragedy of Securing the Sacred: Religion, Security and Nationalism in Southeast Asia)
Période du rapport: 2019-03-01 au 2021-02-28
The problem
How does an ethnoreligious group become an existential security threat to states and societies? Much of the available literature on internal/intrastate conflicts in Political Science has focused on determining the most relevant factors that led to their emergence, and/or why some conflicts turned violent while others were settled without carnage. Despite providing valuable insights, determining the various causes of these clashes does not necessarily clarify how the very first stage of all internal/intrastate conflicts – the manufacturing of ethnoreligious others as existential security threats – gets set in motion and crystallized. What is mostly missing are explanations on the underlying processes that link the causes to the outcome. Hence the ER uncovers and explains the unseen, albeit existing causal mechanisms that drive state and non-state actors within territorially bounded polities to frame certain ethnoreligious groups as threats to their relative security, power, and status. The ER draws on the interdisciplinary theories on critical security, religious, and nationalism studies and develop a framework that traces and elucidates how imagined insecurities are transformed into tangible security threats.
Importance to society
The rationalist assumption of a straightforward relationship between individual and group preferences, information collection, and belief formation has been at the crux of existing peacebuilding strategies. Conflict resolution frameworks that are purely based on rationalist approaches usually fail as they deliberately ignore the powerful emotions, symbolic predispositions, and perceptions being experienced by the actual actors involved. The findings from this research reveal that without a serious appreciation for these intangible yet highly crucial elements, violent internal/intrastate conflicts are bound to re-emerge and remain entrenched over long periods of time. To escape from the cycle of mass hostility, security dilemma, and chauvinist political mobilization that characterizes these conflicts, the project underscores the importance of promoting emotive, symbolic, and perceptual reconciliation and regulation between the rival ethnoreligious groups. Undoing the invisible strings of ethnoreligious othering – to once again humanize and embrace the 'stranger' and the 'enemy' – takes enormous time and extraordinary resolve. However, as the cases examined in the project illustrate, this is a necessary first step in breaking the cycle of violent protracted conflicts.
Overall objectives
The ER has three main objectives for this project. The first is to highlight the centrality of the invisible yet concrete emotions, symbolic predispositions, and perceptions linked to ethnoreligious nationalism in providing a more holistic and realistic understanding of the eruption, protraction, and possible resolution of internal/intrastate conflicts. settlement among the competing ethnoreligious communities observed.
The second is to emphasize the importance of recognizing religion and nationalism as legitimate constituents and instruments of realpolitik and, as such, must be provided appropriate seats at policymaking tables.
And third, to demonstrate how the ethnoreligious othering framework developed and applied in the project can bolster and advance process tracing explanations by systematically incorporating context-specific intersubjective meanings into causal accounts of the phenomenon under investigation
How does an ethnoreligious group become an existential security threat to states and societies? Much of the available literature on internal/intrastate conflicts in Political Science has focused on determining the most relevant factors that led to their emergence, and/or why some conflicts turned violent while others were settled without carnage. Despite providing valuable insights, determining the various causes of these clashes does not necessarily clarify how the very first stage of all internal/intrastate conflicts – the manufacturing of ethnoreligious others as existential security threats – gets set in motion and crystallized. What is mostly missing are explanations on the underlying processes that link the causes to the outcome. Hence the ER uncovers and explains the unseen, albeit existing causal mechanisms that drive state and non-state actors within territorially bounded polities to frame certain ethnoreligious groups as threats to their relative security, power, and status. The ER draws on the interdisciplinary theories on critical security, religious, and nationalism studies and develop a framework that traces and elucidates how imagined insecurities are transformed into tangible security threats.
Importance to society
The rationalist assumption of a straightforward relationship between individual and group preferences, information collection, and belief formation has been at the crux of existing peacebuilding strategies. Conflict resolution frameworks that are purely based on rationalist approaches usually fail as they deliberately ignore the powerful emotions, symbolic predispositions, and perceptions being experienced by the actual actors involved. The findings from this research reveal that without a serious appreciation for these intangible yet highly crucial elements, violent internal/intrastate conflicts are bound to re-emerge and remain entrenched over long periods of time. To escape from the cycle of mass hostility, security dilemma, and chauvinist political mobilization that characterizes these conflicts, the project underscores the importance of promoting emotive, symbolic, and perceptual reconciliation and regulation between the rival ethnoreligious groups. Undoing the invisible strings of ethnoreligious othering – to once again humanize and embrace the 'stranger' and the 'enemy' – takes enormous time and extraordinary resolve. However, as the cases examined in the project illustrate, this is a necessary first step in breaking the cycle of violent protracted conflicts.
Overall objectives
The ER has three main objectives for this project. The first is to highlight the centrality of the invisible yet concrete emotions, symbolic predispositions, and perceptions linked to ethnoreligious nationalism in providing a more holistic and realistic understanding of the eruption, protraction, and possible resolution of internal/intrastate conflicts. settlement among the competing ethnoreligious communities observed.
The second is to emphasize the importance of recognizing religion and nationalism as legitimate constituents and instruments of realpolitik and, as such, must be provided appropriate seats at policymaking tables.
And third, to demonstrate how the ethnoreligious othering framework developed and applied in the project can bolster and advance process tracing explanations by systematically incorporating context-specific intersubjective meanings into causal accounts of the phenomenon under investigation
Main scientific achievements:
Book:
• Ethnoreligious Otherings and Passionate Conflicts, forthcoming with Oxford University Press, 2021.
Articles
• “Imagined Insecurities in Imagined Communities: Manufacturing the Ethnoreligious Others as Security Threats.” International Studies Quarterly, Vol 64, no. 3 (2020), pp. 684-698.
• “Ethnoreligious Othering as a Security Defense Strategy of Genocidal Nation-States,” Under revision.
Work packages (WP) delivered:
WP1: The ER developed the project’s theoretical approach and methodology by undertaking and incorporating training on mainstream gender; conducting an in-depth and systematic literature review of SRN nexus; fine-tuning the project’s research design, conceptual framework, and methods.
WP2: The ER underwent training in research methods and management, knowledge transfer, and public engagement, and launched the project’s website.
WP3: The ER examined the SRN linkages in the Philippines by conducting elite interviews with Filipino public officials, policymakers, and key non-state leaders; conducting ethnographic observations and interviews with the members of Catholic and Muslim societies; conducting archival research at university and state libraries in the Philippines; and drafting the Philippines chapter of the book.
WP4: The ER examined the SRN linkages in Indonesia by conducting elite interviews with Indonesian public officials, policymakers, and key non-state leaders; conducting ethnographic observations and interviews with the members of Muslim and Christian societies; conducting archival research at university and state libraries in Indonesia; and drafting the Indonesia chapter of the book and a journal article based on this case study.
WP5: The ER examined the SRN linkages in Myanmar by conducting elite interviews with Myanmar public officials, policymakers, and key non-state leaders; conducting ethnographic observations and interviews with the members of Buddhist and Muslim societies; (c) conducting archival research at university and state libraries in Myanmar; drafting the Myanmar chapter of the book and a journal article based on this case study.
WP6: The ER disseminated his research findings by publishing a journal article that distils the project’s theoretical insights and a book (forthcoming) that comprehensively examines SRN linkages in Southeast Asia; delivering talks in departmental seminars; presenting in international conferences; drafting a policy brief; and facilitating group discussions with selected CSOs on SRN issues.
Book:
• Ethnoreligious Otherings and Passionate Conflicts, forthcoming with Oxford University Press, 2021.
Articles
• “Imagined Insecurities in Imagined Communities: Manufacturing the Ethnoreligious Others as Security Threats.” International Studies Quarterly, Vol 64, no. 3 (2020), pp. 684-698.
• “Ethnoreligious Othering as a Security Defense Strategy of Genocidal Nation-States,” Under revision.
Work packages (WP) delivered:
WP1: The ER developed the project’s theoretical approach and methodology by undertaking and incorporating training on mainstream gender; conducting an in-depth and systematic literature review of SRN nexus; fine-tuning the project’s research design, conceptual framework, and methods.
WP2: The ER underwent training in research methods and management, knowledge transfer, and public engagement, and launched the project’s website.
WP3: The ER examined the SRN linkages in the Philippines by conducting elite interviews with Filipino public officials, policymakers, and key non-state leaders; conducting ethnographic observations and interviews with the members of Catholic and Muslim societies; conducting archival research at university and state libraries in the Philippines; and drafting the Philippines chapter of the book.
WP4: The ER examined the SRN linkages in Indonesia by conducting elite interviews with Indonesian public officials, policymakers, and key non-state leaders; conducting ethnographic observations and interviews with the members of Muslim and Christian societies; conducting archival research at university and state libraries in Indonesia; and drafting the Indonesia chapter of the book and a journal article based on this case study.
WP5: The ER examined the SRN linkages in Myanmar by conducting elite interviews with Myanmar public officials, policymakers, and key non-state leaders; conducting ethnographic observations and interviews with the members of Buddhist and Muslim societies; (c) conducting archival research at university and state libraries in Myanmar; drafting the Myanmar chapter of the book and a journal article based on this case study.
WP6: The ER disseminated his research findings by publishing a journal article that distils the project’s theoretical insights and a book (forthcoming) that comprehensively examines SRN linkages in Southeast Asia; delivering talks in departmental seminars; presenting in international conferences; drafting a policy brief; and facilitating group discussions with selected CSOs on SRN issues.
Potential societal impact
The extensive fieldwork conducted by the ER during the Fellowship in support of the SeReNa-SEA project has granted him invaluable access to institutional and cultural resources across Southeast Asia. Through this project, the ER has been able to cultivate meaningful and productive relations with academic institutions, government agencies, civil society organizations, and think tanks. The ER intends to fully harness his transnational and cross-disciplinary networks by collaborating with them in expanding the geographic focus of the current research to cover other regions like South Asia, East Africa, and Western Europe.
Moreover, the ER is now starting to build the foundations of his dream lab – the Asia-Pacific (In)Security Lab or the APIS Lab. The Lab aims to develop productive and sustainable research networks among some of the most renowned scholars and experts on Asia-Pacific security, especially those who come from or are based in the Global South. The idea is to create a research and knowledge exchange platform that provides more space for critical non-traditional, non-mainstream voices and narratives, thereby enhancing the diversity of his field’s knowledge pool. The ER’s long-term plan for the APIS Lab is to transform it into a fully operating not-for-profit hybrid research facility that functions both as a non-government organization and a think tank.
The extensive fieldwork conducted by the ER during the Fellowship in support of the SeReNa-SEA project has granted him invaluable access to institutional and cultural resources across Southeast Asia. Through this project, the ER has been able to cultivate meaningful and productive relations with academic institutions, government agencies, civil society organizations, and think tanks. The ER intends to fully harness his transnational and cross-disciplinary networks by collaborating with them in expanding the geographic focus of the current research to cover other regions like South Asia, East Africa, and Western Europe.
Moreover, the ER is now starting to build the foundations of his dream lab – the Asia-Pacific (In)Security Lab or the APIS Lab. The Lab aims to develop productive and sustainable research networks among some of the most renowned scholars and experts on Asia-Pacific security, especially those who come from or are based in the Global South. The idea is to create a research and knowledge exchange platform that provides more space for critical non-traditional, non-mainstream voices and narratives, thereby enhancing the diversity of his field’s knowledge pool. The ER’s long-term plan for the APIS Lab is to transform it into a fully operating not-for-profit hybrid research facility that functions both as a non-government organization and a think tank.