American Councils, CRRC Georgia and ARISC present the 9th in the Spring 2015 Works-in-Progress Series!
Chris Anderson, PhD Candidate in Political Science, University of Iowa
“Ethnocentrism and the use of force in Georgia, 1990 to 2014”
Wednesday, March 25, 2015 at 6:30pm
EPF/CRRC-Georgia, Kavsadze St. 3, Tbilisi
Chris will present data from a number of public opinion surveys conducted in Georgia over the last 20 years that investigate changes in the level of ethnocentrism in Georgian society and how this affects Georgian attitudes towards violence and the use of force.
Ethnocentrism is a term to describe the degree to which people identify with their in-group and dislike other out-groups. It has been shown to be an important predictor of support for the use of force in the United States. Ethnocentric individuals were not only more likely than non-ethnocentric individuals to support the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, they were also more likely to support an aggressive foreign policy during the cold war. However, despite clear evidence from the American literature that ethnocentrism is positively related to support for the use of force, systematic work cross-nationally is lacking. This is unfortunate because it is far from clear that results from the American literature will hold cross-nationally. This is particularly true regarding support for the use of military force; the position of the United States as the world’s only superpower (and thus its ability to use military without serious repercussions) means that American attitudes towards the use of force are likely to be far from globally representative. Chris’s work, therefore, will expand upon the results from the United States in order to determine how ethnocentrism and use of force are related cross-nationally.
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W-i-P is an ongoing academic discussion series based in Tbilisi, Georgia, that takes place at the Eurasian Partnership Foundation at Kavsadze St. 3. It is co-organized by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC), the American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS, and the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus (ARISC). All of the talks are free and open to the public.
The purpose of the W-i-P series is to provide support and productive criticism to those researching and developing academic projects pertaining the Caucasus region.
Would you like to present at one of the W-i-P sessions? Send an e-mail to natia@crrccenters.org.
