1st Edition
Democratization and Ethnic Peace Patterns of Ethnopolitical Crisis Management in Post-Soviet Settings
First published in 1999, this book explores the ethnic dimension of democratic peace agenda in new democracies. The democratic peace proposition concerns the fact that free peoples make good neighbours. How does it apply intra-nationally within multiethnic states? Does the establishment of a constructive and peaceful pattern of ethnic conflict management have anything to do with the type of rule? What tasks and dilemmas must be dealt with in order to promote a more positive and stable relationship of peace in democratizing multiethnic systems? The author searches for answers to these and other topical questions to underscore the linkage between ethnopolitical crises, change and choice... The case study section examines the meanings, articulations, dynamics and character of ethnic peace in four post-Soviet cases (Estonia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia) with particular focus on areas, factors and patterns of critical choice in the realms of institutions and interactions at the onset and at critical junctions of the democratization dynamic.
1. Democratic Peace: Considering its Ethnic Dimension. 2. Ethnic Conflict and Crises in Changing Societies. 3. Democracy and Multiethnicity: Conditions of Democratic Ethnic Peace. 4. Democratization and Factors of Ethnic Peace. 5. Post-Communist Democratization and Ethnopolitical Crises. 6. From Soviet to Post-Soviet Ethnopolitics: Change and Menu of Choice. 7. Estonia. 8. Lithuania. 9. Moldova. 10. Russian Federation.
’...a pioneering work in the application of the democratic peace proposition to issues of ethnopolitical conflict management under conditions of transforming and developing societies. ...an impressive survey and...an excellent comparative overview...It is an important contribution to the question of how to create sustainable democracies in multiethnic societies.’ Dr Norbert Ropers, Director of the Berghof Research Center for Constructive Conflict Management, Berlin, Germany ’...essential reading for those of us interested in the conditions under which democracy leads to ethnic peace. The author offers a comprehensive and most impressive review of the various theoretical literature’s in the field as well as an excellent empirical treatment of ethnic conflicts in Post-Soviet societies. Scholars, students and practitioners alike will learn from this book.’ Professor Thomas Risse, European University Institute, Italy ’This is a serious and highly academic study which addresses the very topical question of ethnic conflict...the combination of theory and practice in this book ensures it a worthwhile place in the growing literature’s on Post-Soviet ethnic conflict.’ British East-West Journal ’...a worthy diagnosis of one of the main perils of post-Soviet democratization...I recommend this book, especially to Russian and East European specialists.’ The Ethnic Conflict Research Digest ’...an illuminating and often concisely insightful introduction to the various debates regarding the processes of democratization and ethnic conflict...’ Human Rights Law Review
