ABSTRACT
Ethnic mobilisation can often be found at the heart of political competition. No state is devoid of its influence. Notions of ethnicity and nationalism during the Second World War, for example, tore Europe apart in the middle of the twentieth century. More recently, in the 1990s, similar sentiments have brought devastation to the Balkans. Even within the European Union, ethnic tensions are common. The populations of Northern Ireland and Spain’s Basque country, for example, know well enough the tragedy that such ‘clannish’ competition can generate. Similarly, the United States is also no stranger to communal violence. Isolated instances of rioting over the last few decades have made it quite clear that minority ethnic groups are discontented with the inequality they suffer within US society.
