Homelands : shifting borders and territorial disputes /

Shelef (Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison) expertly employs a multiple case study approach (Germany, Palestine, Italy) in this methodologically sound, rigorously researched analysis of the nexus of territoriality, borders, and conflicts as applied to the amorphous definition of homeland. Though he posits a "single dimension of nationalist ideology" as the driver of conflictual engagement regarding homelands, he presents a much more nuanced explication of other theoretical constructs to bridge the gaps between historical constructs of nationalism, geographic constraints, and quantitative analyses of international relations. Opening and closing each case study analysis with observables and expectations based on alternative theories (time, adaptation, and instrumentality), Shelef concentrates on the more plausible, historically grounded, and evolutionary dynamic of the meaning of homeland for border restructuring. More importantly, he anchors that evolutionary dynamic in domestic political engagement, broadening the scope of the usual two-level game theory. In doing so, he limits the influence of external actors, emphasizing instead the role of internal political influencers in resolving nationalist conflicts to determine the extent of homeland partitioning. Partitions, or definitions of homeland territoriality, "are best identified from the inside out," and those dynamics change over time. Such a revelation exposes the complexity (yet not irreversibility) of present-day border disputes. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. --Gary Donato, Massachusetts Bay Community College