ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with how societies, states, and the international system can and should respond to ethnopolitical conflicts. The worldwide shift from autocracy toward democracy in recent decades provides the context in which ethnopolitical conflict has been tamed. Three kinds of actors share responsibility for attaining security and justice in multiethnic societies: governments, civil society, and the international community. It summarizes the newest and still controversial of the five principles. The principles include states and civil society should recognize and promote the rights of minorities; democratic institutions and power-sharing are the best means for protecting group rights; and conflicts over self-determination are best settled by negotiations for autonomy within existing states. These also include international actors should protect minority rights and promote settlement of ethnopolitical wars; and international actors may use coercive means to stop civil wars and mass killing of civilians.
