Description: An authoritative guide to the complexities of ethnic conflict in terms of linguistics, territory, and ethnicity in various regions, The Politics of Ethnicity and National Identity argues that ethnicity, used as a tool both for oppression and for liberation, plays an influential and controversial role in constructive state-building. The contributors to this volume use various research methodologies to affirm that positive territorial identities often emerge from community-based organizations and groups. As an alternative to the derivative nationalist project that so far has only resulted in conditions for a soft state, this book examines the issue of whether ethnicity and community attachments are at the heart of civil conflict and war.
