FRS Webinar: The Return of Geopolitics - Nationalism and Conflict in Today’s world

Sypnosis:

The current world appears to be gripped by a wave of political violence and geopolitical instability. As illustrated by Russia's attack on Ukraine in February 2022 and the explosion of violence that has rocked the Middle East since October 2023, nationalism drives the recent return of geopolitics. However, the link between nationalism and conflict is not a recent phenomenon: it can be traced back to the French Revolution. Funded by an ERC grant, the International Conflict Research Group at ETH Zürich has spent the past five years analyzing how nationalism transforms the state and its behavior in European history and beyond. Using historical maps, we analyze how incongruence between state borders and ethnic boundaries tends to trigger border change and political violence. These effects become more acute if nationalists attempt to resurrect historical legacies that sometimes date back centuries. But nationalism’s consequences are not limited to European history: conflict patterns around the world can be linked to nationalism. A better understanding of the roots of conflict helps us assess the risk of future conflict patterns and propose effective approaches to conflict resolution.