INSTITUTIONAL SETTINGS: FRONTIER AND GHETTO

Repertoires of state violence are shaped by pressures for repression and restraint, both of which come together in different ways over time and space. Repression is deployed in discrete institutional settings that vary in terms of visibility, level of state control, and degree of state regulation.^[17] These settings are specific in terms of both conflict and geography, and each has its own rules of the game. The notion of institutional setting is borrowed from organizational sociology, and refers here to a clearly defined social or geographic space where organizational action is shaped by notions of appropriate and legitimate behavior.

Two settings of particular importance here are what I call "frontiers" and "ghettos." Bosnia became a frontier vis-à-vis Serbia in 1992, facilitating Serbia's resort to ethnic cleansing, whereas Palestine became a ghetto within Israel, prompting ethnic policing. Both Serbian and Jewish nationalism contained radical and more moderate strains, but actual repertoires of domination were determined by institutional setting. The impact of institutional settings is nicely illustrated by the within-case variations discussed in this book. The Sandžak, for example, was a ghetto of a certain type within Serbia (and Montenegro) during the 1990s, and therefore experienced less extreme forms of nationalist violence than Bosnia. And Lebanon, which served as a frontier of sorts vis-à-vis Israel, experienced more dramatic repertoires of Israeli violence than did Palestine. Serbian state behavior in the Sandžak was not identical to Israeli conduct in Palestine, and the Lebanese experience is not an exact replica of Bosnia's trajectory. Still, these comparisons do highlight the ability of institutional settings to shape repertoires of state coercion.

The crucial difference between frontiers and ghettos is the extent to

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which states control these arenas and feel a bureaucratic, moral, and political sense of responsibility for their fate. States enjoy an unrivaled level of control over the ghetto's borders and territory, suppressing challenges to their monopoly over force. Although this grants states some distinct advantages, it also implies important responsibilities. Ghetto residents are despised members of society, but both local and international rules stipulate that the state bears substantial responsibility for their welfare. Frontiers, by contrast, are perched on the edge of core states and are not fully incorporated into their zone of control. States do not dominate frontiers as they do ghettos, and they are not bound by the same legal and moral obligations. In times of crisis and uncertainty, frontiers more easily become sites of ethnic cleansing.

By applying the notion of frontier to Bosnia, we can better understand why Serbia resorted to ethnic cleansing in 1992–93. On their own, the breakdown of the Yugoslav state, Serbian nationalism, and Bosnian demands for independence might not have prompted ethnic cleansing. It is only when Serbian nationalism interacted with the Bosnian frontier that expulsion became a viable option. When we view Palestine as a ghetto within Israel, moreover, the reasons for Israel's reliance on ethnic policing become clear. Institutional context promotes some policies over others, with poorly regulated environments selecting out more radical strands of nationalist thought, and more heavily institutionalized arenas promoting police-like regimes of domination.