ABSTRACT
The objective of this book is to help understand why violent conflicts involving religious minorities persist in the age of nation states. It focuses on an area which is characterised by recurrent conflict among confessional groups and by uneven evolution of nation states: the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans, the historical zone of contact between Christianity and Islam. The contemporary history of such plural societies as Lebanon and Bosnia is marked by acute conflicts that have put into question the existence of some states. Communal violence continues to be a problem in such states with large religious minorities as Egypt.
