The Influence of Ethnicity on the Foreign Policies of the Western Littoral States

Ethnicity, or rather ethnonationalism, may, and often does, become one of the main factors determining sociopolitical processes in multiethnic countries. The cases of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia during the last few years of their existence and those of Cyprus, Ethiopia, and Sri Lanka illustrate this point. The influence of ethnicity on the foreign policies of particular states, except for countries beset with ethnic strife, is generally less evident.