Indispensable Traitors: Liberal Parties in Settler Conflicts

In settler societies, some conflicts have roots that are both ethnic and colonial in nature. These are ethnic conflicts between an indigenous ethnic group or groups or between and ethnic group and groups of settlers who have been transplanted to a territory by a colonial power as part of a colonizing effort. This study examines the role that liberal parties have played and can play in recent conflicts in Israel/Palestine, Northern Ireland, and South Africa. Typically, such parties reject the conventional wisdom of the settler population in general regarding the nature of the conflict. They also reject the radical thinking of the liberation movements and offer instead a third alternative. Mitchell hopes that this study will provide useful information for current liberal parties in Central and Eastern Europe and Israel.