At the intersection of language, conflict, and security Theoretical and empirical perspectives

Abstract

While conflicts involving language are always intertwined with other issues such as ethnic and racial identity, religion, and democratic participation, the importance of the linguistic dimension is often underestimated, along with the difficulties of achieving effective, just and sustainable solutions through language legislation and policy. Language policies have political and social consequences; they can reinforce or diffuse conflicts and social unrest between language groups, they can accelerate language loss or facilitate language revitalization, and they can be instruments of inclusion or exclusion affecting the stability and security of the society. Against this background, this Special Issue aims to shed light on how language diversity impacts conflict and security. In particular, the SI will look at how issues revolving around language diversity interplay with security concerns and which dynamics trigger processes of securitization of language issues. How to balance language diversity to prevent conflict and promote security of linguistic majorities and minorities? How to reconcile the demands for linguistic diversity and political stability and unity? What is the role of international organizations in these processes? And how can the risk of the essentialization of linguistic communities and minority cultures leading to the division of societies into us-versus-them antagonisms thereby be overcome? Linguistic diversity is a normal aspect of human society. There are more than 7,000 languages spoken in the world, of which about 200 are on the European continent, not counting dialect forms. The idea of monolingual societies and nation-states thus clashes with what Skutnabb-Kangas (2005: 280) defines as a "normal accident of reality".