Monica D. Toft - The Geography of Ethnic Violence

Monica Duffy Toft considers elite-manipulation approaches as the best option to explain reasons why rational actors, political elites, representing states and ethnic groups, resort to violence, as in most cases they [elite-manipulation theories] “straddle material and nonmaterial explanations leaders use to rally support, be it charisma or ability to evoke history and national identity”.[1] Although elite manipulation theory can not be generalized and accepted as a remedy and explanation for all cases, as most of them could fall beyond the framework of its approach. We should not overestimate the value of elite-manipulation approach, as it contains dangers to over predict the power of nationalism and violence, misleading us to properly evaluate the different roles of elites and masses. As elites quite often refer to history for personal gains, and elite-manipulation theory does not explain the reasons of success and failures of particular elites, we could not catch the true sense of elite manipulation of symbols and myths, as well as the cases of perception and interpretation of history for personal gains. In reality, elite-manipulation explanation does not address such cases either logically or empirically.[2]
[1]Monica D. Toft. The Geography of Ethnic Violence - Identity, Interests, and the Indivisibility of Territory. (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2003), 2.
[2]Ibid., 9.