Ethnicity And Governance In The Third World

This title was first published in 2001. Written by an outstanding international group of researchers focusing on ethnic conflict, this refreshing analysis provides practical and effective policy options for the people of the Third World.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of Tables -- List of Appendices -- List of Figures -- List of Contributors -- Acknowledgements -- Acronyms -- 1 General Introduction -- 2 Federalism and the Ethnic Question in Africa -- 3 Ethnicity, Constitutionalism, and Governance in Africa -- 4 Harmonizing Ethnic Claims in Africa: A Proposal for Ethnic-based Federalism -- 5 Managing Ethnic Relations in a Heterogeneous Society: The Case of Nigeria -- 6 Ethnicity and Ethnic Challenges in the Middle East -- 7 Never Again a Mexico Without Us: Indigenous Peoples and the 21st Century -- 8 Ecuador's Strategic Policies Toward Indigenous Communities in Sensitive Border Areas -- 9 Let Smiles Return to My Motherland: The Sikh Diaspora and Homeland Politics -- 10 Ethnicity and Governance in the Third World: Case Studies from South and Southeast Asia-Sri Lanka and Malaysia -- 11 Ethnic Conflict and Violence: South Africa, Punjab and Sri Lanka -- Index

Textbook

The reigning consensus holds that the combination of free markets and democracy would transform the third world and sweep away the ethnic hatred and religious zealotry associated with underdevelopment. In this revelatory investigation of the true impact of globalization, Yale Law School professor Amy Chua explains why many developing countries are in fact consumed by ethnic violence after adopting free market democracy. Chua shows how in non-Western countries around the globe, free markets have concentrated starkly disproportionate wealth in the hands of a resented ethnic minority. These “market-dominant minorities” – Chinese in Southeast Asia, Croatians in the former Yugoslavia, whites in Latin America and South Africa, Indians in East Africa, Lebanese in West Africa, Jews in post-communist Russia – become objects of violent hatred. At the same time, democracy empowers the impoverished majority, unleashing ethnic demagoguery, confiscation, and sometimes genocidal revenge. She also argues that the United States has become the world’s most visible market-dominant minority, a fact that helps explain the rising tide of anti-Americanism around the world. Chua is a friend of globalization, but she urges us to find ways to spread its benefits and curb its most destructive aspects.

Institutional quality has been increasingly identified as crucial for economic development. In line with previous work which has explored the determinants of good institutions, this paper examines the impact of economic and social inequalities between ethnic groups on government quality. I hypothesize that greater inequalities between groups will tend to undermine institutions both because they tend to legitimize corruption in the eyes of disadvantaged groups and because of the efforts of better-off groups to maintain their privileges. Based on a panel of 29 developing countries, I find that socio-economic ethnic group inequalities reduce government quality, something which suggests the convenience of policies that can level the playing field in ethnically heterogeneous societies.

This volume brings together a variety of studies on the question of cities, ethnicity and diversity. Contributions cover various facets of life in contemporary cities, ranging from the role which street markets play in diverse neighbourhoods, to everyday multiculture in a specific street, the role of community and hometown associations among migrant communities, expressions of ethnicity in urban neighbourhoods, and the changing dynamics of integration and community cohesion. This book will be of interest to those who are concerned with developing a better understanding of how urban communities are being transformed by the development of new patterns of migration and ethnic mobilisation. With contributions from a wide range of scholarly and national backgrounds, each chapter helps to provide an overview both of current trends and of historical patterns and processes. Collectively they provide important insights into the shifting patterns of community and identity in increasingly diverse communities and neighbourhoods. This book was originally published as a special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies.