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The cases of the Kurds in Iraq and the Abkhaz in Georgia were chosen to illustrate how ethnic entrepreneurs play a crucial role in the ethnic mobilisation process. The study argues that in both cases a combination of variables was at work. These cases seem unlikely comparisons at first. The primary challenge appeared to be dealing with cases that involve different contexts and identities. However, in both cases entrepreneurs exploited an appropriate domestic environment to start the process and they perceived the opportunities provided by external intervention and the state’s policy towards their groups as incentives. Choosing the intermediate variables depends on the understanding that each one provides part of the explanation. Political opportunity structure directs the attention to the cost-benefit analyses of ethnic entrepreneurs and their perceptions of the available opportunity. Ethnic identity politicisation illustrates the role of ethnic entrepreneurs in choosing and activating identities. Finally, resource mobilisation is essential in conflict as any conflict requires resources that are consumed throughout its various stages. These resources are also used by ethnic entrepreneurs to reward their followers and guarantee loyalty, or sometimes to provide material incentives to reassure those unconvinced of the movement's potential success against the central authorities.

Thesis (MA (Political Science. International Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In an otherwise broad literature on civil conflict little attention has so far been paid to actual conflict violence and variation in severity. Existing work is also hampered by a reliance on a ‘closed polity’ model of the state, leading to disregard of the transnational dimensions of internal conflict, and by a dependence on over‐aggregated data. The present inquiry expands on the existing explanatory framework for variation in civil conflict severity by including transnational factors and characteristics of sub‐national actors. Data on conflict battle deaths are combined with recently available data on transnational ethnic linkages, transnational support and neighbouring conflict as well as other actor and country characteristics. Results from ordinary least squares regression analysis indicate that support for rebel groups from external non‐state actors increase conflict severity, while rebel presence in other states is associated with less severe conflicts. In addition, severity increases with duration but with a diminishing marginal return. Internal armed conflicts are less severe in democratic and ethnically polarised countries but rebel territorial control increases the level of violence. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In die andersins omvangryke literatuur oor burgerlike konflik is daar tot op hede min aandag geskenk aan werklike konflikgeweld en variasie in felheid (vernietigende omvang). Bestaande werk word ook belemmer omdat dit staat maak op ’n model van die staat as ‘geslote regering’, wat lei tot verontagsaming van die transnasionale dimensies van interne konflik, en staat maak op oor‐geaggregeerde data. Hierdie ondersoek brei uit op die bestaande verklarende raamwerk vir variasie in felheid van burgerlike konflik deur transnasionale faktore en eienskappe van subnasionale deelnemers in te sluit. Data oor konflikgevegsterftes is gekombineer met onlangse data oor transnasionale etniese koppelings, transnasionale steun en naburige konflik, sowel as ander deelnemer‐ en landeienskappe. Resultate van gewone kleinstekwadrate‐regressie‐analise dui daarop dat steun aan rebellegroepe deur eksterne nie‐staatsdeelnemers konflikfelheid laat toeneem, terwyl rebelleteenwoordigheid in ander lande geassosieer word met minder fel konflikte. Felheid neem ook toe saam met duur maar met ’n afnemende marginale opbrengs. Interne gewapende konflikte is minder fel in demokratiese en etnies gepolariseerde lande, maar rebellebeheer oor grondgebied verhoog die vlak van geweld.

Les relations interethniques, qu’elles soient intergroupes comme les attitudes interethniques ou interpersonnelles comme les choix affiliatifs, prennent une place déterminante dans la construction de l’identité de l’enfant, en raison de leur influence sur l’estime de soi et l’identification ethnique. L’enfant français grandit dans un environnement qui offre une diversité de groupes culturels, issus ou non de l’immigration. En étudiant certains aspects de l’identité et des relations interethniques des enfants français scolarisés en primaire, l’objectif de cette recherche est vérifier différents modèles théoriques compte tenu de critères tel que l’appartenance ethnique, le contexte scolaire et l’âge. Pour cela, nous avons mesuré pour chaque enfant, leur niveau d’estime de soi et d’identification ethnique, les biais dans leur choix affiliatifs ainsi que les attitudes implicites et explicites exprimées à l’égard des différents groupes ethniques qui les entourent. L’échantillon comporte 447 enfants de CE1 et de CM1 provenant de trois groupes ethniques français, maghrébin et africain scolarisés dans trois contextes scolaires, classes monoculturelles françaises, classes à 50 % françaises et classes multiculturelles. Le lien entre l’identification ethnique, les attitudes interethniques et l’estime de soi varie selon les groupes ethniques et le contexte scolaire. L’estime de soi est liée principalement à l’âge. Les deux groupes issus de l’immigration diffèrent dans leurs attitudes interethniques. Les attitudes interethniques des enfants reflètent en partie les images véhiculées sur les groupes issus de l’immigration. Les enfants partagent une perception commune positive envers les groupes d’origine française et africaine et négative envers les groupes d’origine maghrébine. Un contexte scolaire multiculturel n’entraîne pas plus de biais interethniques dans les choix affiliatifs ni d’attitudes plus positives envers les groupes d’origine maghrébine, mais plutôt une plus forte identification ethnique. Les biais dans les choix affiliatifs ne sont pas influencés par les attitudes interethniques, les enfants ne font pas de biais endo ou exo-groupes dans leurs choix. / Interethnic relationships, whether they are intergroups as interethnic attitudes or interpersonal as affiliative choices, take a major role in the construction of child's identity, due to their influence on self-esteem and ethnic identification. French children grow in an environment offering a diversity of several cultural groups coming from immigration or not. Through the study of certain aspects of French children’s identity and interethnic relationships, the purpose of this research is to confirm several theoretical models upon criteria such as ethnic membership, school context and age. Indeed, for each child we scaled his level of self-esteem and ethnic identification, the biases he could show in his affiliative choices and his explicit and implicit attitudes towards the various ethnic groups around him. The sample is composed of 447 children in second and fourth grades, coming from three different ethnic groups: French, Maghrebian and African; schooled in three different contexts: French-monocultural classes, 50% French classes, and multicultural classes. The link between ethnic identification, interethnic attitudes and self-esteem differ according to ethnic groups and school context. Self-esteem is mainly linked with age. The two groups coming from immigration don’t show the same interethnic attitudes. Children’s interethnic attitudes partially match the stereotypes about groups coming from immigration. The children share a common positive vision towards French and African groups and a negative one towards Maghrebians. A multicultural school context doesn’t mean more interethnic biases in affiliative choices neither positive attitudes towards Maghrebians, but foster a strong ethnic identification. Affiliative choices biases are not linked with interethnic attitudes, children don’t show endo or exo-group biases in their choices.

As doenças cardiovasculares lideram as causas de morte em vários países, inclusive no Brasil, sendo a insuficiência cardíaca (IC) uma das enfermidades mais frequentes. Estudos epidemiológicos e de genética têm demonstrado associações entre a origem étnica dos indivíduos e o desenvolvimento de diversas doenças cardiovasculares. O presente estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a relação entre haplogrupos mitocondriais e ancestralidade genômica no desenvolvimento da IC. Foram avaliados 503 pacientes com IC e 188 controles saudáveis. Os haplogrupos mitocondriais foram obtidos pela análise da região controle do DNA mitocondrial (mtDNA) e o estudo de ancestralidade genômica foi realizado pela análise de 48 marcadores autossômicos informativos de ancestralidade (AIMs) tipo INDEL. As análises estatísticas foram realizadas com o uso de regressão logística, construção de curvas de Kaplan-Meier e utilizando o método estatístico de log-rank (Mantel-Cox). Os resultados dos AIMs evidenciaram contribuições semelhantes de ancestralidade genômica entre os grupos de pacientes e controles, evidenciando a não estratificação populacional da amostra. A comparação dos haplogrupos mitocondriais entre os dois grupos revelou uma associação dos haplogrupos africanos com risco aumentado (p=0,015; OR 1,56) para o desenvolvimento da IC, enquanto que os haplogrupos ameríndios foi associado a um menor risco (p=0,043; OR 0,71). As análises realizadas apenas dentro do grupo de pacientes revelaram que 74,6% dos indivíduos se autodeclararam como brancos. As etiologias encontradas com maior frequência na nossa amostra foram a hipertensiva (28,6%) e a isquêmica (28,4%). A análise de mtDNA evidenciou que pacientes pertencentes aos haplogrupos africano apresentaram risco aumentado para o desenvolvimento da IC nas etiologias chagásica (p=0,012; OR 2,32) e hipertensiva (p=0,003; OR 2,05). Evidenciou também que pacientes dos haplogrupos africanos, principalmente da etiologia isquêmica, desenvolveram IC mais cedo que os demais, e que os pacientes com esses haplogrupos da etiologia valvar apresentaram maior sobrevida no período avaliado. A análise dos AIMs demonstrou que, na etiologia hipertensiva, a maior contribuição da ancestralidade genômica africana conferiu risco aumentado (p=0,002; OR 6,07), enquanto que a maior contribuição de ancestralidade genômica europeia conferiu risco diminuído (p=0,001; OR 0,16) para o desenvolvimento da IC; os pacientes com maior contribuição de ancestralidade genômica ameríndia apresentaram maior sobrevida no período de 4 anos. O uso de marcadores autossômicos e do DNA mitocondrial fornece estimativas mais precisas da ancestralidade de um indivíduo e/ou população, enquanto que a autodeclaração de cor de pele fornece indiretamente informações importantes sobre aspectos socioeconômicos e culturais. Assim, seria interessante a utilização, especialmente em populações miscigenadas, de uma construção tridimensional de análise, que poderia fornecer dados mais informativos e complementares em estudos de associação entre etnia e fenótipos e/ou doenças complexas / Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in many countries, including Brazil, being the heart failure (HF) one of the most common diseases. Epidemiological and genetic studies have shown associations between the ethnic origin of individuals and the development of various cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between mitochondrial haplogroups and genomic ancestry in the development of HF. We evaluated 503 patients with HF and 188 healthy controls. The mitochondrial haplogroups were obtained by analysing the control region of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and the study of genomic ancestry was conducted by the analysis of 48 autosomal ancestry informative markers (AIMs) INDEL type. Statistical analyzes were performed using logistic regression, construction of the Kaplan-Meier and using the log-rank test (Mantel-Cox). The results of AIMs showed similar contributions of genomic ancestry among the patients and controls groups, indicating no population stratification of the sample. Comparing mitochondrial haplogroups between the groups, we observed that african haplogroups show increased risk (p=0.015, OR 1.56) of development of the HF, while ameridian haplogroup was associated with a reduced risk (p=0.043, OR 0.71). The analysis carried out only within the group of patients showed that 74.6% of individuals self-declared as white. The etiologies found with greater frequency in our sample were hypertension (28.6%) and ischemic (28.4%). Analysis of mtDNA showed that patients belonging to african haplogroup have increased risk of the development of HF in chagasic (p=0.012, OR 2.32) and hypertensive etiologies (p=0.003, OR 2.05). It also showed that patients of african haplogroups, specially of ischemic etiology, developed HF earlier than others, and the patients with this haplogroup of valvular etiology had better survival in the study period. AIMs analysis showed that in hypertensive etiology, the major contribution of african genomic ancestry conferred increased risk (p=0.002, OR 6.07), while the major contribution of european genomic ancestry conferred decreased risk (p=0.001, OR 0 16) to the development of HF; patients with higher contribution of amerindian genomic ancestry had better survival within 4 years. The use of autosomal markers and mtDNA provides more accurate estimates of ancestry of an individual and/or population, while the self-declared ethnicity, indirectly provides important information about socioeconomic and cultural aspects. Thus, it would be interesting to use, especially in admixed populations, the construction of a three-dimensional analysis, which could provide more informative and complementary data in studies of association between ethnicity and phenotypes and/or complex diseases