Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and Democracy

The collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and elsewhere seemed to hold out the promise of democratic reform. But as old national and ethnic rivalries have reasserted themselves, the prospects for democracy in many parts of the world have been cast into doubt. In this book Larry Diamond and Marc Plattner bring together a group of contributors to examine the tensions between new hopes for democratic reform and the ancient rivalries that threaten to extinguish them. After an introduction by the volume editors, the book offers a look at the complex relationship between nationalism and democracy. The authors then examine the special challenges facing democracy in ethnically divided societies. Specific topics include the problems of Nigerian federalism; the dilemmas of diversity in India; bilingualism and multiculturalism in Canada; the fate of minorities in Eastern Europe; the tragic failure of Serbian democracy; and the emergence of totalitarian nationalism in the Balkans.