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Separation or Unity? A Model for Solving Ethnic Conflicts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Jan Tullberg  and
Birgitta S. Tullberg
Jan Tullberg
Affiliation:
Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden
Birgitta S. Tullberg
Affiliation:
University of Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract

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This article outlines a consistent and rational model for solving ethnic conflicts. We argue that ethnic separation should be regarded as an alternative to national unity, and not simply dismissed as impossible. A decision on separation or unity should be made democratically by the group whose separation has been proposed. If separation is approved, migration over the border between the newly formed states should be part of such a solution. The article has three main parts: (1) a model for solving separationist demands; (2) an analysis of the evolutionary background to ethnic conflicts; and (3) a discussion of principal objections to the proposed model. The present international impotence in situations of ethnic conflict is to a high degree caused by seeing most solutions as impossible—either realistically or morally. This article stresses the virtue of having one model instead of the “flexibility” that currently prevails under the disguise of generally acclaimed, but contradictory ideals.

Type
Roundtable Article
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , September 1997 , pp. 237 - 248
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

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