Karen_A._Mingst,_Ivan_M._Arregu_n-Toft]_Essentia

Challenges to the State 175

Ethnonational ChallEngErS,

rEprESEntativE CaSES

State(S) ethnonational GroupS

p eople’s republic of China Tibetans, Uighurs, Manchus

Burundi, rwanda Hutus, Tutsis

Syria, iraq, iran, turkey Kurds

Serbia, Macedonia Albanians

Mexico, guatemala Maya, Zapotecs, Mixtecs

Burma, thailand Karen, Kachin, Shan, Rohingya

india Kashmiris

af ghan i stan Pashtuns, Hazaras, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmens

georgia Abkhaz, Ossetes

taBlE 5.3

tinue to join the IS, China sees the jihad peril, and greater repression only fuels Uighur
radicalism.
Chinese policy toward minorities is one of official recognition, granting limited
autonomy with an extensive effort at central control. Although only 9  percent of
China’s population consists of ethnic minorities, those minorities are spread across
resource- rich areas. They are actually the majorities in the strategically impor tant
border areas of not only Xinjiang but also Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and Yunan. The
Chinese government’s suppressions of Tibet (in 1959 and 2008) and of Xinjiang dem-
onstrate Beijing’s determination to exert dominance and authority across the entire
country, justifying repression in the name of suppressing terrorism. With increasing
economic prob lems and growing economic inequities, the state may continue to be
challenged by ethnic minorities.
Some ethnonational challenges lead to civil conflict and even war, as the case of
Kashmir illustrates. The po liti cal scientist Jack Snyder has identified the causal mech-
anism whereby ethnic nationalists challenge the state based on the legitimacy of their
language, culture, or religion. Particularly when countervailing state institutions are
weak, elites within these ethnonational movements may be able to incite the masses to
war.^26 able 5.3 lists some of the ethnonational challengers in the world T today.