Book Notes
| Date | 01 March 2006 |
| Published date | 01 March 2006 |
| Author | Sven Gunnar Simonsen |
| DOI | 10.1177/002234330604300217 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
BOOK NOTES 233
features of analysis. Readers obtain a post-9/11
account of how Europe and its institutions are
coping in the face of diverse state-based security
challenges, including institutional expansion (the
EU and NATO). Although mention is made of
other security challenges (couched often as ‘soft’
security, such as migration), little is really
produced in the way of a new securities analysis.
The traditional security approach applied here,
although important and well executed, conflicts
with other securities including societal (men-
tioned, but in relation to dominant European
identities and not marginalized groups), environ-
mental (nuclear waste impacts, global warming)
and economic, to name a few. These other, ‘new’
securities impact traditional approaches and need
to be adequately integrated into the analysis to
obtain an overall securities picture. In this case,
the main title would be more appropriate if the
word Traditional were added.
Gunhild Hoogensen
Kaufmann, Eric P., ed., 2004. Rethinking
Ethnicity: Majority Groups and Dominant Minori-
ties. London: Routledge. 254 pp. ISBN
0415315433 (paperback).
This edited volume reminds the reader of two
important insights: first, not only minorities but
also a state’s majority population are ‘ethnic’, and
that analysis of inter- and intragroup dynamics
suffers when this is not properly acknowledged;
and second, in many countries, the politically as
well as culturally dominant ethnic group is not
necessarily the numerically dominant one. In 13
chapters, a strong line-up of scholars examine the
changing roles of dominant ethnic groups around
the world. Most of the contributions are case
studies – some fairly specific and not very closely
related to Kaufmann’s conceptualization of
‘dominant ethnicity’ in the introduction. Only
the chapters by Kaufmann, Anthony D. Smith
and Andreas Wimmer explore the issues more
broadly, while some other contributions do not
put the concept to use, or even dispute its utility
(e.g. Dominique Schnapper’s chapter on French
nation-building). As a whole, the collection is
clearly useful for triangulating the phenomenon
of ethnic dominance, and several case studies do
expand into theorizing. However, this reader
cannot help but think that the editor is overstat-
ing the novelty of the book when he writes that
it is the ‘first of its kind, and represents a new step
in the maturation of ethnicity and nationalism
studies’ (p. 4). The issue of Jewish ‘ethnocracy’ in
Israel/Palestine and the contradictions in the
position of ethnic Russians in the Soviet Union,
for example, have been dealt with elsewhere. That
being said, globalizing trends pushing states
towards framing their identities more in civic
terms, and current news stories such as the Israeli
withdrawal from Gaza, or the (mostly minority
Sunni Arab) insurgency in Iraq, highlight the
topicality of this book.
Sven Gunnar Simonsen
Koonings, Kees & Dirk Kruijt, 2004. Armed
Actors, Organised Violence and State Failure in
Latin America. London: Zed. 214 pp. ISBN
1842774441.
What can explain the paradoxical longevity of
failing Latin American states? Koonings & Kruijt
define the concept of ‘new violence’ to explain the
multiplication of armed actors and consecutive
fragmentation of the state’s monopoly of legiti-
mate force. Despite manifesting itself notably
through the diversification of its perpetrators, this
‘new violence’ does not irremediably lead to state
collapse, because it simultaneously ‘entails its
“democratization” in the sense that a variety of
social actors pursue a variety of objectives on the
basis of coercive strategies and methods’ (p. 7).
On the basis of illustrative country cases, the
authors present these ‘actores armadas’, including
governmental paramilitary and police extensions,
civilian defence patrols, guerilla groups, organized
crime networks and youth gangs. However, the
book fails to explore one critical component of its
captivating title: the arms, of which proliferation
is closely intertwined with the multiplication of
armed actors in Latin America. Gun availability
and use are only briefly mentioned in the analysis
of crime in Argentina, and in relation to drug
trafficking and urban violence in Brazil. While
the book will interest scholars concerned gener-
ally with Latin American society and politics, its
title seems deceiving for those interested in the
issue of arms proliferation in particular. It would
be relevant and timely if the editors decide to
pursue this interesting academic discussion
further, by building on one key recommendation
of the epilogue: ‘Latin American democracies are
facing the enormous and urgent task of establish-
ing the monopoly of the legitimate means of
violence’, which ‘implies among other things
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