Democracy, Ethnic Diversity, and Security in Post-Communist Europe

by Anita I. Singh

Overview

Inder Singh examines why international organizations including the UN, OSCE, and Council of Europe advocated democratic governance, based on the rule of law and respect for human and minority rights, as the method by which states should try to accommodate their ethnically mixed populations. She discusses how realistic this advice has been, given the tension between the principle of the sovereignty of states and their international obligations, and the extent to which democratization had made for ethnic and political stability in post-communist Europe.

Inder Singh demonstrates that this advocacy of democracy to handle ethnic diversity questions the perception of nationalism as a cause of war and disorder. This pathbreaking study will be of appeal to academics and policy makers interested in how the management of ethnic diversity through democracy can enhance domestic and international security.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275972585
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/30/2001
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

ANITA INDER SINGH is a Fellow at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Wolfson College, Oxford. Dr. Singh has been a Fellow at the Centre for International Studies, London School of Economics and Political Science and the International Forum for Democratic Studies, National Endowment for Democracy. Among her earlier publications are The Limits of British Influence: South Asia and the Anglo-American Relationship, 1947-56 and The Origins of the Partition of India, 1936-1947.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Democracy, Ethnic Diversity, and Post-Cold War Security: The Practical and Conceptual Dilemmas
Managing Ethnic Diversity Through Political Structures and Ideologies: The Experiences of the Soviet Union, India, Sri Lanka, and Spain
Self-Determination, Democracy, Minorities, and Sovereignty: The Issues Raised by the Collapse of Yugoslavia and the USSR
Reconciling the International and Domestic Dimensions of Democracy
On the Absence of War in the Former Communist Bloc: Magyar and Russian Minorities in Countries Neighboring Hungary and Russia
Conclusions
Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

First asking why, after the end of the cold war, the international community advocated democracy as the best way to manage ethnic diversity, Inder Singh (socio-legal studies, Oxford U.) then goes on to assess the extend to which ethnic diversity can be accommodated through political structures and ideologies, to consider the implications of democracy and self-determination for national sovereignty and international obligations in eastern Europe, and to ask whether international and domestic dimensions of democracy can be reconciled and whether the absence of war between Hungary and Russia can be explained by their domestic polities toward their Magyar or Russian minorities. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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