ABSTRACT
Probing into issues of ethnic peace presupposes ethnic conflict analysis as a departure point. This chapter examines major approaches to sources, patterns of manifestation and dynamics of ethnic conflict in changing societies. The term ethnic conflict is often used loosely to describe a wide range of intrastate conflicts that are not exclusively ethnic in character. Social scientists have taken two major approaches to explain the phenomenon of ethnic conflict which differ by the underlying assumptions about ethnicity - primordialist and instrumentalist. Several attempts have been made to delineate patterns of ethnic stratification. Two of those models have particular relevance for conflict management - the ones by D. Rothschild and S. V. Horowitz, respectively. Ethnically relevant power differences and attempts at redistribution of power arrangements are among the major causes of ethnopolitical conflict. Power is the main goal at both ends of the spectrum. At one end, power is sought purely for its value in confirming a claimed status.
