Building a theory of communication and ethnopolitical conflict

Abstract

ABSTRACT Coherent development of theories of ethnopolitical conflict has been slow and scattered. Moreover, the role of communication has been seriously neglected. I theorize ethnopolitical conflict along two dimensions: the level in which the conflict is entered (macro state-level, mid civil society level, and individual level) and the type of communication most characteristic of the level (bargaining and negotiation, intergroup relations and intercultural communication, identity theories and deliberative processes). Additionally, the article makes the case for a social constructionist perspective on ethnicity, and develops a relationship between communication and ethnopolitical conflict. Finally, theories of communication are posed as mediators of social systems that couple the communication systems of two conflictive groups in order for them to increase commensurability.