Institutions, institutional change and the evolution of minority strategies
Subtitle: the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel.
Published: 2004
Language: eng
Number of pages: 288
Description: This dissertation examines two broad questions: What explains variation in minority strategies between cases as well as over time? In a world fraught with increasing instances of ethnicity-based strife, understanding why minorities develop particular political leanings is desirable for opening paths to equality of opportunity and peaceful accommodation of communal tensions. The case of the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel is employed in this study to construct a generalizable analytical framework. The case contains three episodes, (compliance, integrationist leanings and ethnonational tendencies) the comparison of which allows me to examine each period as a separate case as well as explain variation over time. The thesis first surveys the evolution of approaches to studies of ethnic politics, demonstrating their inadequacies for explaining variation in minority strategies. The study borrows Joel Migdal's state-in-society approach and modifies it to suit the analysis of ethnic politics. This is a neo-institutionalist perspective, accepting the basic premises of the New Institutionalist school, most significantly, that institutions are the "rules of the game". Yet, rather than focus exclusively on how institutions shape communal relations, the alternative here understands institutions as embedded in ethnic politics. Thus, I also examine how groups act as agents of institutional change, trying to modify the constraints under which they operate so as to improve their access to opportunities. This analytical framework is applied to the three episodes in the case of the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel.The institutional level variables that are used for constructing the analytical framework are state autonomy from ethnonational forces and regime capacity to regulate societal challengers. The societal level variables employed are group cohesion or fragmentation (among the minority and majority groups), the strength and vision of the leadership of both groups, and the resources available for mobilization. I also look at the role of exogenous factors, such as international norms and organizations as well as other interested third parties. The dissertation ends with policy recommendations that take into consideration the societal context in which the proposed solution will be embedded.
Notes: Adviser: Richard Sandbrook.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Toronto, 2004.

Electronic version licensed for access by U. of T. users.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 65-05, Section: A, page: 1941.