HOW TO PREVENT ETHNIC CONFLICTS: THE UNLEARNED LESSONS OF HISTORY
HOW TO PREVENT ETHNIC CONFLICTS: THE UNLEARNED LESSONS OF HISTORY

Summary/Abstract: We may argue whether the recent riots in the suburbs of Paris were ethnic or social based conflicts, but there is no question that the roots of the last wars in Europe, the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s (in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo), were national and religious differences. Or more properly: they were the results of old and new tensions between national groups living intermingled, in ethnically mixed areas. The on-going violence in Iraq and Afghanistan also goes back to such antagonisms. But the history of the last two hundred years shows not only numerous wars between nations, but also many successful efforts at reconciliation, and we know of many models for the harmonious co-existence of national/religious groups who live side-by-side or in close proximity. A study, an overview of the successful and unsuccessful arrangements may be useful for the prevention of future, ethnic-based tensions and conflicts.

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