ABSTRACT
With its emphasis on difference and otherness, postmodernism illustrates a paradox in the contemporary world which has arguably gone beyond the rigid limitations of the nation state. On the one hand, postmodernists stress the futility of efforts to create homogeneous nation states and insist on the necessity of tolerance to diversity and minorities. On the other, they emphasize the importance of cultural identities and point out that intensification of violent communal conflict is a key characteristic of the postmodern era (Kavanagh 1998: 34-6).
