Competitive victimhood in ethnic conflicts

Çağla Demirel, doctoral student in Political Science, presents the thesis proposal "Competitive victimhood in ethnic conflicts".

Nina Carlsson and Mats Braun act as discussants.

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The seminar is followed by fika. Welcome!

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to explore different aspects of competitive victimhood within different peace-building and reconciliation processes. Drawing upon the competitive victimhood literature, which exists predominantly in the field of social psychology, the project is based on the assumption that the sense of competitive victimhood among conflicting parties may arguably have a negative impact on reconciliation processes (Noor 2008).

However, studies of how these victimhood identities are maintained and used for political purposes by conflicting parties remain scarce. As a result, a considerable gap in the literature on peace building is revealed, particularly regarding those scholars who view peace-building processes via political lenses and who use different methodological approaches. This project aims to bridge this gap by providing an overarching understanding of how competitive victimhood is active in different reconciliation processes.

To achieve this aim, the project will analyze competitive victimhood in three different reconciliation processes, namely via an analysis of public opinion polls and competitive victimhood narratives in Turkish-Armenian relations, the investigation and categorisation of political discourses in Northern Ireland, and research on memory politics in post-Yugoslav states. Finally, the project will provide recommendations for overcoming competitive victimhood in reconciliation processes.