Evolutionary Theory and Ethnic Conflict

James and Goetze bring together contributors of varied backgrounds, ranging from evolutionary theorists to game theorists to analysts of specific ethnic conflict. Their work represents a coherent attempt at evaluating the usefulness of evolutionary theories for explaining ethnic phenomena and demonstrates how these theories can be applied in attempts to elucidate real-world behaviors.

This study found that kinship theory that posits evolved dispositions to form cooperative bonds with family, ethnic groups and other social groups may go a long way in accounting for the formation of ethnic groups. Also, ingroup-outgroup theory may contribute to understanding how group conflict commences. Likewise, the description of evolved mechanisms for discerning threat, for building reputations, and for recognizing individuals, groups, and states as possible cooperators and long-term allies may facilitate explanation of the outbreak and avoidance of group conflicts. This also may explain the design of conscious strategies for conflict prevention and resolution. Nonetheless, several contributors take a more critical stance and offer ample reason why building these explanations may prove elusive or at least troublesome given the complex character of human societies. This work is a provocative resource for scholars, students, and other researchers involved with ethnicity and ethnic conflict, international relations, social psychology, and social anthropology.

PATRICK JAMES is Professor of Political Science at Iowa State University./e He has written extensively and served as an editor on numerous books dealing with ethnic conflicts. He also has served as editor or on editorial boards for various international studies journals.

DAVID GOETZE is Associate Professor of Political Science at Utah State University and Administrative Director of the Center for the Study of Cooperation and Conflict./e He has a long-standing interest in explaining cooperation and conflict in human societies. In past work, he has addressed issues of inducing cooperation to resolve environmental problems, identifying causes of cooperative behavior in lab settings, and exploring mental mechanisms involved in human collective action situations.