Intergroup Conflict and British Colonial Policy: The Case of Cyprus

Abstract

Nation-states are sustained through a multiplicity of institutional arrangements and through individual and group behavior appropriate to the framework of nationhood.' Fundamentally, these are grounded in a cognitive structure and a system of norms and values that define the what and how of reality in such a way that an international order composed of sovereign nation-states is perceived as natural and normal. In turn, sovereign political authority is viewed as legitimate when its jurisdiction extends over and is restricted to those of one nationality. Thus, the rulers and the ruled are one and the same; government is of and for the people; the proper concern of government is the public welfare; and the national interest coincides with the interests of the members of the body politic. The universalization of the ideology of nationalism and the concomitant efforts to create a social order founded on its precepts are the most striking features of the post-World War II era. The processes of modernization,2 including the formation of a nation-state, are com-