Cities, Nationalism and Democratization

摘要

In this volume, Scott Bollens sets himself the objective of using the urban arena as a ‘lens’ through which to gauge the effectiveness of urban policy as part of sub-national peace building and the accommodation of inter-group differences. He focuses on cities that are 'contested'—that is, they are characterised by deep-rooted nationalistic group conflicts that challenge their very political and social foundations. Thus, although at times cities may seem to be mere pawns in larger ethno-national games, Bollens explores the possibility that they can be more than this by contributing significantly to conflict resolution or at least to moves towards some degree of peace building.