Regions with significant populations of Tibetans and Uyghurs have been rattled by strings of demonstrations, self-immolations, and sporadic attacks since the March 2008 riots in Lhasa and the July 2009 riots in Urumqi. In an attempt to move beyond simplistic treatments of the recent wave of violence, a group of up-and-coming and well-established scholars in the fields of Tibetan and Xinjiang/Uyghur studies assembled at a 2013 workshop co-sponsored by Australia National University and Columbia University. Ethnic Conflict and Protest in Tibet and Xinjiang contains revised versions of the papers delivered at that timely workshop.

The volume's nine empirically rich essays identify several, often interrelated, causes of conflict: the cadre system, propaganda, state-sponsored schooling, (uneven) economic development, and the exploitation of natural resources. Read individually, each chapter offers original research, provides thorough analysis, and advances our understanding of the problems nagging China's western peripheries. Although most chapters focus exclusively on either Tibet (the Tibet Autonomous Region and ethnographic Tibet) or Xinjiang, some offer illuminating insights into conflict in both regions. For instance, Ben Hillman draws attention to constraints in China's cadre system, both “formal”—for example, annual performance reports and pressure to demonstrate loyalty (pp. 21–31)—and “informal”—for example, fickle superiors, competition for promotion, and the trappings of wealth (pp. 32–33)—that stifle creative problem solving and innovative solutions to Tibet's instability. In another thought-provoking piece, Tom Cliff (pp. 122–50) carefully describes how the volatile combination of high inflation, credit crunches, and backroom deals determines the winners (most often Han) and losers (most often Uyghur) of Xinjiang's “chaotic” economy.

Although deserving of praise, this volume would have benefited from a stronger introductory chapter. Given the essays’ loose regional (Tibet and Xinjiang occupy nearly 30 percent of China's total territory) and thematic (e.g., “conflict”) links, the volume needs a more explicit central argument. For example, several chapters point to specific local experiences, rather than ethnicity alone, as the driving forces behind much of the conflict, but this point is not fully developed in the introduction. Such a discussion would have also enhanced Eric Mortensen's (pp. 201–22) and James Leibold's (pp. 223–50) provocative inquiries into the “newness” of China's ethnic conflict, its inevitability, or even the appropriateness of framing recent tensions in ethnic terms. This minor criticism notwithstanding, Ethnic Conflict and Protest in Tibet and Xinjiang is a welcome contribution to the field and essential reading for specialists, policymakers, and graduate students interested in these important regions.