ABSTRACT
Published in 1997. After the collapse of the communist system, the political systems in Eastern Europe were unable to cope with increasing tensions between ethnic majorities and minorities. These tensions led to violent ethnic conflicts and civil wars, in particular in former Yugoslavia. In this phase of transition and nation-(re)building, ethnic groups strove for more political autonomy and even territorial secession. The newly independent states lacked democratic structures and traditions as well as civil manners that could be used for regulating ethnic conflicts. The idea of Civil Society provides both basic democratic mechanisms for a lasting co-existence in an ethnically plural society. The theoretical part of this book discusses the issues of conflict anatomy, causes for conflict, and democratic conflict resolution. The empirical part describes experiences of ethnic conflicts in former Yugoslavia (especially Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia) in Ukraine and Romania. Experiences from Switzerland and the United States demonstrate successful examples of ethnic conflict management and illustrations of the political culture within a Civil Society.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|2 pages
Introduction
part II|2 pages
Theoretical Approaches
chapter 2|18 pages
Conflicts Between Different Nationalities
chapter 3|28 pages
Reducing Ethnic Conflicts
part III|2 pages
Case Studies: Domestic Experiences of Ethnic Conflicts
chapter 4|16 pages
Temptations of Transition and Identity Crisis in Post-Communist Countries
chapter 8|26 pages
The Relationship Between the Majority and the Minority in a Composed Region
part IV|2 pages
Case Studies: Democratic Experiences of Successful Conflict Management
chapter 11|28 pages
Conflict and Integration
part V|2 pages
Synopsis