Ethnic Diversity And Civic Identity

Is it possible, in a modern, pluralistic society, to promote common bonds of citizenship while at the same time accommodating and showing respect for ethnocultural diversity? 'Citizenship' and 'diversity' have been two of the major topics of debate in both democratic politics and political theory over the past decade. Much has been written about the importance of citizenship, civic identities, and civic virtues for the functioning of liberal democracies, and the need to accommodate the ethnocultural, linguistic, and religious pluralism that is a fact of life in most modern states. By and large, however, these two topics have been largely discussed in mutual isolation. Much of the writing on the issues of both citizenship and diversity remains rather abstract and general and disconnected from the specific issues of public policy and institutional design. Citizenship in Diverse Societies examines the specific points of conflict and convergence between concerns for citizenship and diversity in democratic societies and reassesses and refines existing theories of 'diverse citizenship' by examining these theories in the light of actual practices and policies of pluralistic democracies.

"When considering strategies to address violent conflict, an enduring debate concerns the wisdom of recognizing versus avoiding reference to ethnic identities. This book asks: Under what conditions do governments manage internal violent conflicts by formally recognizing different ethnic identities? And, moreover, what are the implications for peace? Introducing the concept of "ethnic recognition", and building on a theory rooted in ethnic power configurations, the book examines the merits, risks, and trade-offs of publicly recognizing ethnic groups in state institutions as compared to not doing so, on sought-after outcomes such as political inclusiveness, the decline of political violence, economic vitality, and the improvement of democracy. It draws on both global cross-national quantitative analysis of post-conflict constitutions, settlements, and institutions since 1990, as well as in-depth qualitative case studies of Burundi, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. Findings show that recognition is adopted about forty percent of the time and is much more likely when the leader is from the largest ethnic group, as opposed to an ethnic minority. Moreover, all else equal, recognition promotes peace better than non-recognition under plurality leadership. Under minority leadership, peace outcomes are neither better nor worse. These findings should be of great interest to social scientists studying peace, democracy, and development, and of practical relevance to policy makers attempting to make these concepts a reality around the world"--

Exploring the debate within social sciences on the consequences of ethnic diversity for social cohesion and the production of public goods, this book draws on extensive survey data from Germany to engage with questions surrounding the relationship between ethnic diversity and issues such as welfare provision and the erosion of public trust and civic engagement in Europe. It moves away from the question of whether there is in fact a universal correlation between ethnic diversity and social cohesion in order to focus on the reasons for which people's reciprocity and trust might be reduced in more ethnically diverse areas. Drawing attention to the importance of peoples' perceptions of diversity in explaining levels of social cohesion, Ethnic Diversity and Social Cohesion shows how specific types of perceived diversity can help explain the reasons for which ethnic diversity is associated with declines in social cohesion, and the contexts and conditions in which this occurs. The book also outlines potential courses of action, revealing the important roles of residential segregation, children and interethnic partners in overcoming barriers of language, values and cognitive bias. A rigorous, timely study of ethnic diversity and its relation to liberal democracy as a form of deliberative conflict that requires certain levels of trust, shared values and engagement, Ethnic Diversity and Social Cohesion will be of interest to policy makers, sociologists and political scientists working in the fields of race and migration, ethnic diversity and community cohesion.

This edited book explores the problems and challenges of negotiating the representation of ethnic minorities within history education. It investigates how states balance the (non-)acknowledgement of the reality of cultural or religious diversity, and the promotion of a point of convergence in history education to foster national identity. Shifting our attention away from the intractable challenges posed by post-conflict countries for reconciliation, the contributors draw attention to the need to explore ways to prevent or pre-empt conflicts and exclusion through history education, which could contribute to developing a more sustainable culture of peace. Drawing on a wide range of contexts and sources, this book asks how history education could contribute to forming critical, historically informed, and committed young citizens. The book will be of interest to students and academics working on themes such as nationalism, citizenship, ethnicity, history education, multicultural education, peace studies and area studies, as well as practitioners in the fields of history, social studies, civic or citizenship.

Nationalism, ethnicity and citizenship lie at the heart of many of the societal changes that are currently transforming countries across the world. Global migration has undermined old certainties provided by the established framework of nation-states, with inward migration, cultural diversity and transnational affiliations having become established facts of life in many countries. These phenomena raise significant challenges for traditional conceptions of citizenship. This book provides a detailed examination, from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, of contemporary issues relating to nationalism, ethnicity and citizenship. The book aims to take stock of current understandings in this area, and to establish whether there are connections between the understandings that are being articulated within different social science disciplines. The contributors, who are all senior international figures in their respective fields, are drawn from a range of disciplines, including Politics, Sociology, Communication/Media, Geography, Psychology and Education. Collectively, they address the following specific questions: • To what extent do multiculturalism and transnationalism undermine nationalism or, on the contrary, provoke its reassertion? • How do the multiple identities and multiple levels of belonging experienced today interact with traditional nationalist ideology? • Within multicultural societies, how far do representations of ‘cultural others’ still play a role in nationalist constructions of ‘the nation’? • How successfully have the welfare systems of nation-states responded to the influx of migrants? • How have national politicians responded to the cultural diversity of their own countries and have they moved beyond the traditional logic of nationalism within their thinking? • Why are extreme right-wing parties gaining increased levels of support? • What social and psychological resources do citizens require in order to function effectively at the political level within multicultural democratic societies? • How can the educational systems of states, which have traditionally been used for nationalist purposes, be harnessed to enhance the competences needed by their citizens for successful living in multicultural societies? • What changes need to be made to educational policies in order to ensure the effective integration of minority citizens? Despite the fact that they have been written from different disciplinary perspectives, the various chapters in this book paint a consistent picture. They offer a view of a world in which nationalism is still very much a dominant ideology which configures the discourse and thinking of citizens and politicians alike about nation-states, ethnic diversity, multiculturalism and citizenship. The crucial role of education is also highlighted, with school systems being uniquely positioned to equip citizens with the psychological resources and intercultural competences that are needed to function effectively within multicultural societies.

This dissertation examines how states actions shape the effects of ethnic diversity. Specifically, the three constituent chapters demonstrate the ability of public policies and political institutions in Singapore and Malaysia to alter key aspects of inter- and intra-ethnic interaction among their respective populations. The findings provide evidence for the extensive role that political activity plays in how ethnic diversity manifests itself across a range of contexts. The first chapter examines the impact of Singapore's National Service program on the ethnic and civic identities of conscripts. It isolates the effects of the program by exploiting a natural experiment that introduces exogenous variation in the intensity of socialization and contact between conscripts of different ethnicities. It finds that conscripts exposed to higher levels of socialization and contact demonstrate higher salience of potentially unifying civic identities and lower salience of potentially divisive ethnic identities. These effects are remarkably durable, as they remain observable in former conscripts who completed their National Service decades ago. The findings demonstrate the significant potential of public policy to shape patterns of inter- and intra-ethnic behavior through socialization and inducing contact between citizens. The second chapter examines the impact of Malaysia's electoral rules on the politicization of ethnicity. It demonstrates that the country's dominant political party has sought to secure its grip on power through the use of malapportionment, which concentrates electoral influence in a relatively narrow segment of the electorate. The disproportionate importance of this group to electoral outcomes has led the government to maintain policies that ensure its support--in this case, policies that increase the salience of ethnic divisions--despite their deleterious effects on national cohesion. The chapter provides insights into why ethnically divisive policies and rhetoric are deeply entrenched in Malaysia. The third chapter examines the impact of Malaysia's divisive policies and highly politicized ethnic cleavages at the micro-level. Using survey experiments, it demonstrates that the state's actions, together with inherent ambiguities in the Malay identity, have fundamentally altered the nature of the Malay ethnic identity by imbuing it with an explicitly political component. Two surveys provide evidence that large segments of the general population use political affiliation in their ethnic categorization of self-identifying Malays. This finding makes two important contributions. From a theoretical perspective, it challenges existing conceptualization of ethnic identity, which assume that only descent-based attributes are used as criteria for ethnic group membership. From a practical perspective, it demonstrates at a micro-level how politicizing ethnic identity can increase the intensity of ethnic conflict.

Should government adopt multiculturalism as public policy? What is the role of the state in managing diversity? Are all cultures of equal value? And is ethnicity the difference that most matters? In Ethnicity, Identity and Public Policy, David Bromell evaluates theory developed in other national contexts against challenges for public policy arising from ethno-cultural diversity in New Zealand. He concludes that this is a time to refine - and complicate - our thinking, and that the task of developing normative theory in relation to diversity and public life is still a work in progress. In Bromell's view, New Zealand should endorse neither multiculturalism nor biculturalism as official public policy. Instead, he advocates safeguarding individual rights, which all share equally, and a restrained role for the state in 'managing' diversity. He argues that reducing inequalities ought to be a higher priority than recognising identities. Overall, Bromell urges the cultivation of citizen participation in deliberative democracy and seeks to inform and stimulate debate about big ideas and difficult questions for public policy. This is a challenge for hearts as well as minds.

This book explores the theories of cultural identity and pluralism that support the peace process and questions their adequacy, both with respect to the ethno-national conflict they were originally developed to comprehend, and to the difficulties Ireland now faces in coming to terms with immigration and increasing cultural diversity. Some of the contributors are more optimistic than others, but all share the belief that Ireland's long theoretical and practical engagement with issues related with belonging, citizenship, cultural difference, and conflict are of global significance in a post-Cold War world.