| This dissertation examines the ways in which ethnic and sacred attachment to land has the power to invest some territories with specific characteristics that makes conflicts over such land incredibly difficult to manage or resolve through negotiation. Such a contested territory, called a territorial absolute, can be defined as a territorial space that, through myths, symbols and/or spiritual practises or beliefs, has become so intrinsic to the identity of a group that it can only be treated as an indivisible "whole." Absolute stakes are not fungible; they cannot be exchanged for something else (like security guarantees), paid off by outside parties (compensation), or substituted for (by territory somewhere else).;For people who hold absolute perceptions, no cost matches the value placed on the disputed territory and often, that land becomes more valuable than life itself. Even if only a small extremist minority holds absolute perceptions, it can have the power to disrupt an entire peace process. Some of the more intractable conflicts in history involve disputes over territorial absolutes, including Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Kashmir, and Israel.;Within the framework of ethno-territorial conflict, the aim of the dissertation is to explain how territorial absolutes are created and perpetuated. It does so theoretically, quantitatively, and qualitatively. The quantitative analysis focuses on four quantitative variables that explain what strengthens ethno-territorial attachments over time: demographic patterns, the intangible salience of territory, historic territorial loss, and the duration of settlement on the part of a secessionist group. A fifth explanatory variable, explaining the impact of sacred/symbolic territorial attachments is tested using qualitative analysis with Israel as a case study. The analysis looks at the history of Jewish sacred territorial attachments, the tactics of the Israeli religious-nationalist minority, and the domestic dynamics that impact the government's ability to engage in the peace process with the Palestinians. Together, these relationships explain how ethno-territorial attachments turn into absolute perceptions about territory over time, how such perceptions are perpetuated through both historic residence and past conflict, how they are strengthened as sacred territorial significance is added to the mix, and how they continue to influence the current conflict. |
