ABSTRACT
While interethnic competition, some with religious overtones, can be traced to biblical times, it has been a prominent characteristic of the post-World War II era. More than 300 of these struggles have occurred since the end of the war. Only with the end of the Cold War did the international community recognize how pervasive such ethnic disputes had become. Communal conflicts devastated the former Yugoslavia, threatened or even overwhelmed the stability of most of the former republics of the Soviet Union, brought about state collapse in a variety of African countries, exacerbated historic disputes in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and even threatened violence in some Western industrialized countries. Together, such conflicts have serious implications for international peace and security.
