ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the possibilities and limits of ethnic conflict mediation, the structural prerequisites of ethnic cooperation in the international system by international governance. It explains the necessary political and societal conditions on the national level and the subnational level of communities for a lasting and peaceful polyethnic coexistence in a Civil Society. As long as ethnic groups identify themselves as distinct social entities, ethnic conflicts can never be “resolved”. Social and cultural institutions are instrumental in designing and implementing peaceful and constructive means and processes for coping with ethnic tensions. Ethnic groups or minorities who politically demand more autonomy within the nation-state or pursue separatist endeavors cause autonomy movements which represent a gradual disintegration. The range of using mediation to settle international conflicts has stretched from conflicts about sovereignty, over wars of independence of colonies, to disputes over the use of natural resources.
