Books by George Vasilev
Edinburgh University Press, 2015
This book addresses the conceptual and practical challenges surrounding the promotion of solidari... more This book addresses the conceptual and practical challenges surrounding the promotion of solidarity in divided societies. It brings together the normative insights of political theory and the empirical insights of comparative research to identify institutional arrangements conducive to ties of responsibility across ethnic lines. Against critics who claim group representative measures are incompatible with solidarity, George Vasilev argues they serve as its very basis by providing the incentive structure for interethnic cooperation and openness. He extends the scope of analysis beyond the representative institutions of the nation-state to show how everyday deliberations and transnational influences can also positively shape ethnic relations. Vasilev’s core claim is that what happens outside the state and across state borders also matters, as non-government organisations, international institutions and opinion leaders have become increasingly pivotal in shaping attitudes and political behaviour as the salience of international norms on ethnic diversity has grown. This analysis is conducted against the backdrop of several case studies involving various Balkan states, Northern Ireland, South Africa, the European Union and transnational advocacy networks.
Journal Articles by George Vasilev
Ethics & International Affairs, 2019
A notable feature of nationalism's contemporary resurgence is the increasing eagerness of governm... more A notable feature of nationalism's contemporary resurgence is the increasing eagerness of governments to support and shape the political causes of populations living abroad that are viewed as ethnic kindred. However, global criteria for judging when such kin state activism is and is not acceptable have so far remained elusive, as the objectionable instances of the practice tend to overshadow the legally and morally consistent ones. I argue that the analysis of world affairs and promotion of global justice would benefit from an ethic of transnational conduct that has a rightful place for kin states. I defend a set of cosmopolitan criteria for this purpose, outlining how they enable us to recognize and combat the dangers posed by certain forms of kin state mobilization without forgoing the opportunities presented by certain other forms to overcome minority repression and enhance regional security.
Nations and Nationalism, 2019
The aim of this article is to contribute a greater understanding of the processes by which nation... more The aim of this article is to contribute a greater understanding of the processes by which nationalism passes by unnoticed in research and distorts knowledge about the past. It identifies four narrative practices typical of methodologically nationalist history-writing and explains why they should be rejected as dubious scholarship. These are: concept overstretch; selection bias; the misrepresentation of governing bodies; and the conflation of culture with identity. It is argued that each functions as a hidden authentication route, entrenching nation-centric understandings of the past as valid perspectives in scholarly discourses under the legitimating cover of scientific protocol. By increasing awareness around methodological nationalism in history-writing, this article serves at least two normative purposes. First, it emphasises the reflectiveness required for analysts to avoid co-option by ideology. Second, it functions as a critical vantage point for dispelling misunderstandings that fuel interstate disputes, interethnic tensions, and the oppression of minorities among populations understanding themselves as heirs to timelessly national property.
Review of International Studies
In the EU accession literature, there is a tendency to downplay the role of discourse in facilita... more In the EU accession literature, there is a tendency to downplay the role of discourse in facilitating norm diffusion, particularly when domestic resistance towards European norms is strong. The assumptions in this thinking are that critical deliberations and civil society activism simply lack the potency required to elicit norm conforming behaviour in accession states and that the only realistic hope for achieving this rests with the introduction of material incentives that make the costs of normative adaptation lower than its rewards. I focus on developments in the field of LGBT politics to challenge these assumptions and to specify the conditions under which discursive strategies are likely to stimulate the domestic uptake of contentious norms. I highlight shared identity as a crucial factor in the success of discursive influence, contending that under conditions of identity convergence, a cultural environment prevails in which norm promoters can more effectively ignite a process of deliberative reflection, shame norm-violators into conformance and cultivate resonance around controversial ideas. I develop these arguments through an analysis of LGBT and accession politics in Croatia and Serbia, contending that Croatia’s strong identification with Europe accelerated LGBT recognition there while Serbia’s relatively weaker identification with Europe slowed it down.
Policy Studies, 2015
This article conceptualises the influence at play in the cross-border promotion of minority right... more This article conceptualises the influence at play in the cross-border promotion of minority rights, and offers insights into how this influence can be strengthened and made more principled. In the international socialisation literature, such influence tends to be analysed through competing explanatory and normative frames centred on strategic action and deliberation. However, I contend the enactment of egalitarian institutional change frequently involves a productive interplay between each mode of action, with cost-benefit calculations enhancing communicative reasoning, and vice versa. Moreover, while the success-oriented behaviour of strategic action represents a departure from the deliberative tenet that political outcomes should emerge through an assessment of what everyone could reasonably accept, I contend strategic action can still be justified from a deliberative standpoint whenever it compels actors in positions of strength to be receptive to the claims of actors in positions of weakness. I illustrate these arguments through the case-study of minority rights activism, discussing the transnational pathways for rights reform within the context of the EU and beyond.
The Review of Politics, 2015
Consensus both serves and threatens democratic inclusion. On the one hand it provides the means f... more Consensus both serves and threatens democratic inclusion. On the one hand it provides the means for individuals to will in common. On the other hand, it can impose assimilatory pressures that marginalize perspectives at odds with the prevailing point of view. Agonists have responded to this tension with a call to abandon consensus-oriented politics, contending an adversarial democracy more credibly advances inclusionary and egalitarian goals. I argue this wholesale rejection of consensus is unsustainable from the very pluralist perspective agonists wish to promote. In place of the view of consensus as an unattainable and undesirable absolute, I put forward an understanding of it as a matter of degree. I contend this understanding better captures the complexity of human relations and allows us to distinguish the potential accomplishments of consensus from its potential hazards.
Democratic Theory, 2015
Chantal Mouffe’s conceptualization of a deliberatively forged consensus as a hegemony and her ass... more Chantal Mouffe’s conceptualization of a deliberatively forged consensus as a hegemony and her assertion that adversarial politics best nurtures the conditions of freedom have had a profound influence on contemporary democratic thought. This article takes a critical view of this trend, arguing that a norm of consensus is a very precondition, rather than impediment, for the kind of pluralistic democracy Mouffe and other agonists wish to promote. It is asserted that Mouffe’s dehistoricized refutation of consensus lacks causal or explanatory relevance to how concrete actors embedded in empirical situations relate to one another and that the very preparedness to find something acceptable about another is at the heart of what it means to treat others justly.
Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 2013
Deliberative democrats responding to the challenge of fostering reciprocity and civic friendship ... more Deliberative democrats responding to the challenge of fostering reciprocity and civic friendship discourage in-group deliberations, taking them to stoke hostilities and preclude the possibility of sociability between groups. In opposition to these views, I argue that in-group deliberation presents itself as a promising, yet underappreciated, normative category for conflict transformation. I support this claim with reference to the observation that deliberative exchanges among like members are just as, if not more, consequential in the facilitation of positive actor transformations than deliberations among unlike members, especially when antipathy defines group relations.
East European Politics and Societies, Oct 2013
The Ohrid Framework Agreement (OFA) was supposed to herald a new era of multicultural coexistence... more The Ohrid Framework Agreement (OFA) was supposed to herald a new era of multicultural coexistence in Macedonia following a short-lived civil war. However, antipathies between the Albanian minority and Macedonian majority run as deep as ever, frequently erupting into rioting which threatens the fragile peace on which coexistence is forged. This state of affairs appears to affirm at least one commonly voiced criticism against the OFA, namely, that the pluralisation of public life it set in place would further fragment, rather than unite, Macedonia’s diverse citizenry. This article sheds light on the persistence of volatile ethnic relations in Macedonia despite more than a decade of multiethnic democracy. It argues explanations blaming the OFA are misplaced, and that the source of Macedonia’s fraying ethnic relations lies with each community’s ongoing struggle for recognition. Under this account, conflicts are the outcome not simply of each community’s incompatible wants around access to sovereign power, prized employment, and other distributable resources but unredeemed idealisations of how they would like to be respected and esteemed by others. The article contends that such struggles for recognition are bringing Macedonians and Albanians to interact in a manner that stimulates a sense of profound wrong-doing at the hands of the other, which, in turn, serves to fuel interethnic antagonisms and widen the social distance between each group.
Ethnopolitics, 2011
In this article, the practice and theory of conditionality as it has applied to Bosnia and Macedo... more In this article, the practice and theory of conditionality as it has applied to Bosnia and Macedonia is explored. The goals are twofold: first, to analyse how the EU uses conditionality to bring about favourable changes in the relationship between ethnic groups; second, to shed light on why the effectiveness of conditionality has been so variable between each context. The author argues that whereas the EU's main focus in previous eastward enlargements was on the production of normative policy outcomes, its primary focus in Bosnia and Macedonia has been to generate normative procedures. In addition, attention is drawn to the transformation of ethnic preferences that has occurred in Macedonia and the hardening of ethnic preferences that has occurred in Bosnia in the course of accession politics. These divergent outcomes are explained on the basis of several factors: power-shifts, framing strategies, reform parties and external agents.
Book Chapters by George Vasilev
Routledge , 2015
A defining feature of immigrants is their readiness to adapt to the cultural forms of the societi... more A defining feature of immigrants is their readiness to adapt to the cultural forms of the societies they have chosen to make their new home. Unlike national minorities, immigrants neither seek powers of self-government, nor secession, but wish to participate in existing institutions, crafted in the image of those who inhabited the territory before them. Yet despite being a story of integration, immigration still causes considerable angst among members of receiving countries wishing to protect their culture from unwanted change. Host societies might be able to set the terms of integration, but immigrants still bring with them their own customs, values and traditions, which, rightly or wrongly, are perceived to undermine the privileged position of established ways of life. Therefore, one important reason governments set limits on immigration is the fear that their ability to maintain the distinctiveness of their society will diminish through open borders and large scale immigration. The aim of this chapter is to assess the political and moral complexities of this policy. It considers the extent to which states are able to rely on territorial borders to preserve national cultures, and identifies the normative questions this practice raises. In addressing these issues, the chapter hopes to provide some tentative suggestions on how the relaxation of territorial borders can serve the objectives of global justice without coming into direct conflict with the objectives of cultural preservation.
Op-eds and Other by George Vasilev
When should democracy be about consensus and when about conflict?
Balkan Insight
The mocking of Muslims by men dressed in burqas at a carnival in the village of Vevcani in Macedo... more The mocking of Muslims by men dressed in burqas at a carnival in the village of Vevcani in Macedonia last month, and the reprisals and counter-reprisals it provoked, illustrate the dangerously frail state of ethnic relations in Macedonia.
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Books by George Vasilev
Journal Articles by George Vasilev
Book Chapters by George Vasilev
Op-eds and Other by George Vasilev