中東における統合と共存の伝統とその変容についての一省察-オスマン帝国のヶースを中心として-

地域紛争と国際理論

抄録

Recently, in Asian and African societies, ethnic conflicts have begun to become more serious. In the Western societies, the ethnic resurgence has been going on. The ethnicity problem has become one of the most crucial issues in the research field of international politics.
The ethnicity problem was regarded mostly as a transitional problem in the process of nation-state building and exected to be solved at the end of that process. However, in many cases, the ethnicity problems became more serious actually as the process of nation-state building was going on.
The ethnicity problem is the problem of integration and co-existence of ethnic groups. Here, in order to reconsider the ethnic problem, we'll try to analyze the historical and cultural backgrounds of the system of co-existence and integration of ethnic groups and its dissolution, using the case of the Middle East, especially that of the Ottoman Empire and her successor states.
The Ottoman society was a typical example of the Middle Eastern societies, which were composed of various ethnic groups. There existed a unique system of integration and co-existence.
In the Ottoman society, the identity of the members of the society was mainly based on religion. National or racial consciousness was a secondery factor. Various ethnic groups were grouped according to their religions. The Ottoman system of integration and co-existence was essentially the system of integration and coexistence among religious groups, not national or racial groups.
There were two essential categories of group, Muslims and Non-Muslims. Non-Muslims were categoried in several sub-groups. Each group co-existed each other with each own duties and pribiledges. This traditional system of integration and co-existence was not based on the principle of equality, but on that of inequality. Muslims were the essential citizens of the political community. Non-Muslism were the secondery citizens who were merely tolerated to exist. Nonetheless this system functioned rather well during the period when the traditional type of political apathy prevailed in the society.
This situation began to change under the influence of the West in the late eighteenth century. At first, Non-Muslim peoples in Balkan began to be politically active under the Western influence. They began to try to build their own “nation-state” of ethnically homogenious composition, instead of seeking for equality in a multinational empire. The Ottomans attempted to transform an Islamic empire into a multinational empire in Western type during the nineteenth century. However this attempt failed. Then Muslims themselves fell under the influence of the Western nationalism from the late nineteenth century. Turkish nationalism, Arab nationalism, and so on began to evolve. After the dissolution of the Ottoman empire, there emerged “nation-states” of Muslim peoples. The traditional system of integration and co-existence totally collusped. The ideal of a nation-state which was ethnically homogenious prevailed.
However the ethnic compositions of these societies remained heterogenious. Moreover each ethnic group began to evolve their own nationalism. The new style of integration and co-existence of ethnic groups with new orientation has not yet been established. This situation is one of the important factors in the violent outbursts of the ethnic conflicts in the area.