Papers by Gwendolyn Sasse
Nationalities papers, Jul 1, 2023
How can and should we analyze mass mobilization and its outcomes in authoritarian (and potentiall... more How can and should we analyze mass mobilization and its outcomes in authoritarian (and potentially democratizing) states as social scientists? Are there any distinctive features to the study of mass mobilization and its outcomes in Eastern Europe? And how much should we focus on comparative analyses versus context and country specificities? The case of the 2020 mass mobilization in Belarus offers an opportunity to engage with and answer these questions in a reciprocal dialogue between scholars of protest and activism, politics of competitive authoritarian and democratizing contexts, and regional and country experts. This symposium brings together a diverse set of scholars and combines comparative and case-specific analyses and empirically driven and interpretive analyses that focus on different political, social, and cultural angles of this episode of mass mobilization and its aftermath.
Russlands Krieg gegen die Ukraine
Osteuropa, 2022
The Crimean issue
Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, Mar 1, 1996
Crimea has been characterized as a flashpoint for future European security and is both part of Uk... more Crimea has been characterized as a flashpoint for future European security and is both part of Ukraine's state‐building process and a specific case in itself. Ownership of the Black Sea Fleet is but one issue: inter‐ethnic relations (including the sensitive question of the position of the Crimean Tatars), economic and social factors (such as the peninsula's heavy dependence on Ukraine for goods and materials and Ukraine's dependence on Russian energy), political organization (notably the constitutional position within Ukraine and the powers of the Crimean president and parliament), and international and strategic aspects (in particular the relative claims of Russian and Ukrainian nationalism in the region) all play their part in rendering this a complex issue. Various scenarios place the issue of Crimea at the heart of Ukrainian state‐building, and the prognosis for a peaceful resolution of the matter is not particularly encouraging.
Nations and Nationalism, Aug 11, 2011
Despite implicating ethnicity in everything from civil war to economic failure, researchers seldo... more Despite implicating ethnicity in everything from civil war to economic failure, researchers seldom consult psychological research when addressing the most basic question: What is ethnicity? The result is a radical scholarly divide generating contradictory recommendations for solving ethnic conflict. Research into how the human brain actually works demands a revision of existing schools of thought. At its foundation, ethnic identity is a cognitive uncertainty-reduction device with special capacity to exacerbate, but not cause, collective action problems. This insight leads to a new general theory of ethnic conflict and nationalism that can improve both understanding and practice. Supporting this claim is a wide-ranging discussion of patterns in secessionism, international integration, state collapse, race relations, and deadly ethnic violence found across the globe. Special attention is paid to an in-depth case study of national separatism in Eurasia, which produces a major reinterpretation of nationalism's role in the USSR's breakup and interstate relations in the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Minority rights and EU enlargement: normative overstretch or effective conditionality
Minority rights and EU enlargement: normative overstretch or effective conditionality. Sasse, Gwe... more Minority rights and EU enlargement: normative overstretch or effective conditionality. Sasse, Gwendolyn (2004) Minority rights and EU enlargement: normative overstretch or effective conditionality. In: Toggenburg, Gabriel N, (ed ...
Scholars failed to predict many key developments in late Soviet and post-Soviet politics, includi... more Scholars failed to predict many key developments in late Soviet and post-Soviet politics, including the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Still worse, having failed to predict the dissolution, many observers professionalized in doomsday predictions, often premised on state collapse owing to ethnic strife. Crimea is a region of Ukraine that was considered prone to ethnic conflict and incorporation into Russia. Such prediction did not come true, and this absence of conflict is what The Crimean Question tries to explain. Four factors underlie the potential for instability in the Crimea: geography, multiethnicity, institutional legacies, and external actors. "The argument developed in this book is that the political process of negotiation of central and regional elite bargaining, rather than the institutional outcome per se was the critically important factor for conflict prevention" (p. 8). Four key background conditions created a good environment for a constitutional, nonviolent resolution of Crimea's problems: Multiethnicity prevented a bipolar politicization of clear-cut ethnic cleavages, whereas ethnic Russian mobilization (the one that had the potential of separating Crimea from Ukraine and annexing it to Russia) failed because of a blurred Soviet-Russian identity and the ethnic Russian movement's inability to provide a solution for the region's economic woes. In addition, regional elites focused on cultural and linguistic autonomy instead of radical ethnic separatist demands, and neither Russia nor Turkey actively supported ethnic mobilization of their kin-the ethnic Russians and Crimean Tatars, respectively. The first five chapters provide the conceptual and historical framework for the examination of the post-Soviet period, which is undertaken in the last five chapters. The first chapter is a literature review of nationalism studies with reference to the post-Soviet region, from which two overarching themes are derived: First, Sasse is in favor of "bringing the region back in" (p. 26) to the study of state building. Second, ethnic diversity does not automatically translate into conflict, despite many arguments by mainstream scholarship in this direction. In arguing the latter point, Sasse claims that "studies of Ukraine tended to reinforce the perception of clear-cut ethnolinguistic cleavages in the country and assume that they made for an inherent conflict potential" (p. 30). While making such a claim about studies of Ukraine in general, she does not provide a list of works representative of the orientation that she criticizes. To avoid attacking a straw man, she would need to provide a list of works whose authors see inherent conflict potential in Ukraine's ethnolinguistic divisions. Noting that "conflicts tend to be framed by rival claims to historically evolved identities rooted in territory, ethnicity, and experience" (p. 36), Sasse reviews the
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Apr 6, 2005
Human and minority rights map an area in which the EU's external relations have pushed for a (par... more Human and minority rights map an area in which the EU's external relations have pushed for a (partial) rethinking of the EU's internal values, objectives and policies. While minority issues have been at the forefront of the enlargement rhetoric and are often singled out as a prime example of the EU's positive stabilising impact in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the EU has in fact promoted norms which lack a basis in EU law and do not directly translate into the acquis communautaire. The analysis of EU conditionality presented in this paper will proceed in two steps. Firstly, the EU's minority criterion will be 'unpacked' both in terms of its inherent dilemmas and the way in which the EU translated it into an institutional process. Secondly, this paper locates the EU's minority criterion in the domestic political context of three accession countries (Hungary, Slovakia, Romania) in order to establish the balance between internal and external incentives for policy change and the effectiveness of EU conditionality. The empirical evidence suggests that, on balance, international actors and a vaguely defined European norm framed the debates and perceptions and affected the timing and nature of specific pieces of legislation, while the domestic political constellations and pressures ultimately had a more significant effect on the institutional and policy outcomes.
Europeanization and Regionalization in the EU's Enlargement to Central and Eastern Europe: The Myth of Conditionality
Introduction The Logic of Enlargement Conditionality and Europeanization Communist Legacies and R... more Introduction The Logic of Enlargement Conditionality and Europeanization Communist Legacies and Regionalization The Commission, Conditionality and Regional Policy Monitoring Conditionality and Compliance Transition, Enlargement and Regionalization: A Comparison of Hungary and Poland Elites and the Capacity for Europeanization Conclusion Bibliography Statistical Appendix
Comparing Regional and Ethnic Conflicts in Post-Soviet Transition States
Routledge eBooks, Sep 25, 2014
ABSTRACT This comparative study of post-Soviet conflicts stresses the role of political-instituti... more ABSTRACT This comparative study of post-Soviet conflicts stresses the role of political-institutional changes and adjustments to Soviet legacies made during transition in the causation, prolongation and accommodation of ethnic and regional conflicts. The main theoretical assumptions of the diverse literatures on transition, ethnic conflict and regionalism, are evaluated to highlight both their shortcomings and their potential usefulness for understanding post-Soviet conflicts. Four main questions are investigated: the causes and distinctive features of post-Soviet conflicts, the distinction between ethnic and regional conflicts, the impact of the conflicts on broader processes of transition, in particular institutional engineering, and the interaction between domestic and external factors as a formative dynamic of the conflicts.
Opposing Europe': How deep is the wider Europe?
How deep is the wider Europ
Russia’s War against Ukraine: A Trio of Virtual Special Issues
Europe-Asia Studies
Transnational Links and Political Attitudes: Young People in Russia
Europe-Asia Studies
Political attitudes are generally analysed within the context of a given nation-state, even if th... more Political attitudes are generally analysed within the context of a given nation-state, even if they reflect responses to regional or global developments. Little attention has been paid to the potentially moderating role of personal transnational experiences (travel, migration, remittances) on individual attitudes. Based on two cross-sectional online surveys conducted in 15 cities across Russia in 2018 and 2019, this essay assesses the extent to which personal transnational experiences play a role in the domestic and foreign policy preferences of young Russians. Our analysis finds a consistent relationship between transnational experiences and the attitudes of young Russians.
Mass Politics in Tough Times, 2014
Ethnicity and Territory in the Former Soviet Union
Routledge eBooks, Sep 25, 2014
Introduction: comparing regional and ethnic conflicts in post-Soviet transition States, James Hug... more Introduction: comparing regional and ethnic conflicts in post-Soviet transition States, James Hughes and Gwendolyn Sasse managing secession potential in the Russian Federation, James Hughes the "New" Ukraine - a State of regions, Gwendolyn Sasse regionalism in Moldova - the case of Transnistria and Gagauzia, Steven Roperv multinationality, regions and state-building - the failed transition in Georgia, Monica Duffy Toft the irony of Nagorno-Karabakh, Razmik Panosian patterns of centre-regional relations in Central Asia - the cases of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan, Neil J. Melvin the OSCE and regional conflicts in the former Soviet Union, Natalie Mychajlyszyn conflict and accommodation in the former Soviet Union - the role of institutions and regimes, James Hughes and Gwendolyn Sasse.
1. Warum dieser Krieg? Warum jetzt?
Der Krieg gegen die Ukraine
Aufgabe des Konsortiums ist es, die Kooperation zwischen den Länder-Analysen zu koordinieren und ... more Aufgabe des Konsortiums ist es, die Kooperation zwischen den Länder-Analysen zu koordinieren und zu stärken. Zugleich soll so die Herausgabe der Länder-Analysen institutionell, finanziell und personell auf eine nach haltige Grundlage gestellt werden. Die Verantwortung für die Ukraine-Analysen bleibt bei der Forschungsstelle Osteuropa an der Universität Bremen. Zu unserem großen Bedauern beendet allerdings Dr. Katerina Bosko ihre Tätigkeit als wissenschaftliche Redakteurin. Die Ukraine-Analysen sind ihr für ihren langjährigen kompetenten und engagierten Einsatz mehr als dankbar! In einer Übergangsphase werden ab Februar Katharina Hinz und Heiko Pleines die Redaktion der Ukraine-Analysen übernehmen. Unterstützt werden die Ukraine-Analysen seit Jahresbeginn durch einen wissenschaftlichen Beirat bestehend aus:
An End to Patience? The 2008 Global Financial Crisis and Political Protest in Eastern Europe
Social Sciences Division, 1970
Europe-Asia Studies, 2020
Based on original survey data, this essay analyses the political attitudes of individuals displac... more Based on original survey data, this essay analyses the political attitudes of individuals displaced by the war in eastern Ukraine. We systematically compare attitudinal differences and similarities along three axes: the displaced relative to the resident population; the displaced in Ukraine relative to the displaced in Russia; and the displaced from the (non-)government-controlled areas relative to the resident population in the (non-)government-controlled areas of Donbas. This fine-grained comparative analysis highlights the variety of attitudes held by the displaced, similarities in attitudes across displacement locations, and the effect of war casualties on attitudes and self-declared political interest. WAR AND DISPLACEMENT FUNDAMENTALLY DISRUPT PEOPLE'S everyday lives. These disruptions are likely to shape attitudes and behaviour, but social scientists tend to lack the data to study the attitudes of those who are most directly affected by war. Beyond a focus on the needs, health and rights of the displaced, or their views on issues directly related to the war-for example, their self-reported identities and perspectives on inter-group relations or proposals for peace-we lack a good understanding of the views of these individuals on a wider range of political issues. What do people experiencing war and displacement think of democracy or the direction their country is headed in, and how interested are they in politics in general? Including these issues in the discussion prevents us from reducing the people exposed to war and displacement to these experiences. Painting a fuller picture of their attitudes also provides us with an insight into some of the more long-term political challenges linked to war and displacement.
The Logic of Enlargement Conditionality and Europeanization
Europeanization and Regionalization in the EU’s Enlargement to Central and Eastern Europe, 2005
Despite the importance of conditionality during the current EU enlargement, there are few theoret... more Despite the importance of conditionality during the current EU enlargement, there are few theoretical or empirical studies of the concept. The study of EU enlargement conditionality is characterized by a concentration on the analysis of its correlation with macro-level democratization and marketization, rather than empirically tracking clear causal relationships in policies and institution-building. Most studies tend to focus on two cumulative levels of conditionality. Firstly, they attach great salience to the broad ‘principled’ or normative conditionality established by the Copenhagen European Council in December 1993, the so-called ‘Copenhagen criteria’, which was subsequently elaborated in the Accession Partnerships for individual candidate countries from 1997. Secondly, they emphasize the ‘technical’ preconditions for the CEECs to accelerate the adoption of and adaptation to the acquis in order to fulfil all the responsibilities of membership. The speedy adoption of the acquis was the benchmark for measuring CEEC progress on accession — a condition that only Austria, Finland and Sweden, all advanced industrial countries, had previously met prior to membership. There is a wide spectrum of opinions as to whether EU conditionality has had positive or negative effects on the CEECs.
Conflict‐prevention in a transition state: The Crimean issue in post‐Soviet Ukraine
Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 2002
Ukraine's post‐Soviet state‐building has been characterized by two simultaneous, yet... more Ukraine's post‐Soviet state‐building has been characterized by two simultaneous, yet contradictory trends: the strengthening of the political institutions of the central state and a process of selective autonomization in Crimea. The Crimean issue with its different ethnic, historical, regional and international dimensions posed a considerable challenge to the ‘new’ Ukraine. Ethno‐regional conflict was widely expected to erupt in Crimea during
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Papers by Gwendolyn Sasse