Introduction

Abstract

The most serious challenge to the forging of a post-Cold War international order has come from the rise of nationalism in many states. Ethnic conflict is hardly new to many societies, but the spread of ethno-nationalist mobilisation in recent years reflects, on the one hand, an aspiration on the part of ethnic minorities to reassert their ‘right’ of self-determination and, on the other, a growing desire on the part of ethnic majorities to define the state in more exclusory categories. Since most countries in the world are ethnically heterogeneous, the potential for conflict along ethnic lines is enormous.