Title:
Partition as a Solution to Ethnic Civil War: Sovereignty, Demography,
and the Role of Post-War State-Building for Peace

Committee:
Mark Lichbach (Chair), Johanna Birnir, Paul K. Huth, Jonathan Wilkenfeld

Dissertation Abstract:
Partition has been proposed as a way to (i) end ethnic civil wars and to (ii) build lasting peace. This dissertation builds on partition theory in three ways and demonstrates empirical support. First, I conducted detailed field research, producing a longitudinal study of ethnic migration and violence in Georgia’s 1992-1993 civil war. I conclude that partitioning groups does not end ethnic war. Second, I look at partition’s ability to build peace, and argue that post-partition violence is caused by weak states and the triadic political space endogenously created by partitions that do not separate ethnic groups. I call this the Third Generation Ethnic Security Dilemma. I test this empirically by introducing an index measuring the degree to which partitions separate ethnic groups, and I compare all ethnic civil war terminations between 1945 and 2004, demonstrating that partitions which completely separate ethnic groups provide a better chance for peace. Third, I selected two cases (Moldova and Georgia) to examine the causal processes of post-war recurring violence. I conclude that mixed ethnic demography interacts with state-building to cause or avert renewed violence.

		"Constructing Inter-Ethnic Conflict and Cooperation: Why Some People Harmed and Others Helped Jews during the Romanian Holocaust," World Politics, Vol.63, No.1 (January 2011) (with Diana Dumitru).
		"Correspondence: The Limits of Partition," International Security, Vol.33, No.4 (Spring 2009), pp.203-210 (with Horowitz, Michael C. and Weisiger, Alex).
		"The Limits of Partition," International Security, Vol.33, No.4 (Spring 2009), pp.203-210 with Horowitz, Michael C. and Weisiger, Alex.
		"Partitioning to Peace: Sovereignty, Demography, and Ethnic Civil Wars," International Security, Vol.32, No.4 (Spring, 2008), pp.140-170.
		"The Use and Abuse of Minority Rights: Assessing Past and Future EU policies towards Accession Countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe," International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, Vol.13 No.1 (2006), pp.27-51.
		"Ten Years of Democratic Transition in the Balkans: A Comparative Analysis of Romania’s Hungarian and Bulgaria’s Turkish Minority (1989-1999)", Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Vol.8 No.2, (2002), pp.1-28.

		"Federalism and Secession: The Importance of Pre-War Institutions" (first draft complete) Theoretically, scholars have separately argued that territorial autonomy both increases and decreases separatism. Empirically, cross-national tests consistently show that autonomy decreases rebellion, yet case studies have shown it increases secession. I argue that the institutional impact of autonomy is contextual, restricting secessionist activity in peace time, but increasing it during times of heightened violence. I present a new cross-national test from ethnic civil wars between 1945 and 2004 demonstrating strong empirical support for my theory.

		"Ethnopolitical Violence and Terrorism in the Middle East" with Victor Asal and Jonathan Wilkenfeld in Joseph Hewitt, Jonathan Wilkenfeld, and Ted Robert Gurr, (eds.), Peace and Conflict 2008 (USA: Paradigm Publishers, 2007).
		"Future policy of the Euro-Atlantic structures toward minorities in the new neighboring countries of the enlarged EU" in Euroregions: a Potential for Inter-Ethnic Harmonization. (Chernivtsi: Bukrek Publishers, 2004). pp. 113-127. In Ukrainian.
		"Semipalatinsk Movement (Kazakhstan)", Levinson, David and Karen Christensen, et al., (eds.) Encyclopedia of Modern Asia (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002)
		Country Report Moldova 2000 (London: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 2000)