Ethnic Conflict - Ethnic Conflict Regulation

Ethnic Conflict Regulation

A number of scholars have attempted to synthesize the methods available for the resolution, management or transformation their ethnic conflict. John Coakley, for example, has developed a typology of the methods of conflict resolution that have been employed by states, which he lists as: indigenization, accommodation, assimilation, acculturation, population transfer, boundary alteration, genocide and ethnic suicide. Arguing that the degree to which ethnic tensions stem from the dynamics of inter-ethnic disparity, dominance, and repression has been critically unaccounted for, Greg Meyjes proposes a cultural rights approach to understanding and managing ethnic conflicts.

John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary have developed a taxonomy of eight macro-political ethnic conflict regulation methods, which they note are often employed by states in combination with each other. They include a number of methods that they note is clearly morally unacceptable.

• Methods for eliminating differences:
  • Genocide
  • Forced mass-population transfers
  • Partition and/or secession (self-determination)
  • Integration and/or assimilation

• Methods for managing differences:
  • Hegemonic control
  • Arbitration (third-party intervention)
  • Cantonisation and/or federalisation
  • Consociationalism or power-sharing