ABSTRACT
To students of the political world the cleavages which divide human populations into politically distinct groups form an area of central concern. The most salient cleavages are formed in plural societies where long-standing antagonistic segmentation results in groups with separate political identities and aspirations (Lustick 1979). Cleavages in such cases lead not just to problems of effective administration within the political unit but to questions of legitimacy and right of existence. Clearly, problems of a different order arise in political units which contain plural societies.
