Issues of Ethnopolitical Conflicts

Аннотация

In the conditions of development of modern society, ethnopolitical conflicts are its integral attribute. Almost in any state, any socio-political, economic, cultural conflict will always have an ethnic component to one degree or another. The ethnic factor generates many of those acute and crisis situations that arise in the sphere of politics, intercommunity relations, relations between state and intrastate entities. As a result, the line between social, political and ethnopolitical conflicts is very blurred and difficult to define. In this regard, the article examines various concepts that explain the nature and genesis of ethnopolitical conflicts, defines the criteria on the basis of which an ethnopolitical conflict differs from a political and ethnic conflict. The political sphere of life has not only a global but also a national dimension: history preserves memories of the most diverse conflicts between ethnic groups, which have radically redrawn the political map of the globe. Over the past few decades, the system of international relations has undergone significant changes: there has been a rapid emergence and development of new actors, one of which is an ethnic group. At the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, the scientific community, due to significant geopolitical changes at the forefront of world politics, became interested in a new phenomenon called the ethnic paradox of modern times, characterized by the ever-increasing influence of ethnic groups on socio-political processes of various natures of the system of international relations. In the modern multipolar world, the ethnic factor is one of the most powerful, which can act not only as a creative force, but also as a catalyst for global conflicts. The sphere of interaction between different ethnic groups, despite its apparent simplicity and some stability, is nevertheless characterized by enormous susceptibility to any historical, socio-political, economic and cultural shifts in the world system of international relations. Today, ethnopolitical conflicts affect not only the cultural, but also the economic, political, and social spheres of life, and easily change the order of international communication that has been developing for centuries. This article examines the theoretical features of the study of ethnic conflicts arising in the modern international field.