Is Multiculturalism the answer to Ethnic Conflict?

Conflicts between individuals, communities and states are an inevitable part of the human nature. The variation in the relations between ethnic groups determines the depth of the divisions and violence in states. Although inevitable, these conflicts can be suppressed and need to be managed to avoid dominance by few members of the society or otherwise extreme measures such as violence or ethnic cleansing are bound to occur. Multiculturalism often provides a viable option however; the extent of the success of the multicultural process in creating a plural society is dependent on several factors such as the number of ethnic communities, their relative size and the depth of their differences and similarities.

In the contemporary world, societies can easily be classified as bipolar or multi-polar with very few states such as Botswana and Lesotho falling in the homogeneous group of states. Given this reality, all states need to deal with the differences of each group inherent to the country and those being created by migration. For bipolar states, multiculturalism can be more easily achieved than multi-polar states. While the former might require the creation of a dual identity with both cultural values incorporated in the school system, the latter is a nightmare to comprehend. Multi-polar ethnic groups are a challenge in implementing multiculturalism especially when some ethnic groups have their own autonomous institutions although they may depend on other ethnic groups in running their economy. At the same time some ethnic groups may be more populous and well able to influence the political scene. Such manifestations of diversity and complexity need to be unfolded to avoid generalisations in the creation of a plausible multicultural society.

Often times, ethnic conflict is generated from the differences in need and interpretation structures by groups. To this extent, multiculturalism provides a better incentive for solving conflict due to the core value of embracing the differences and fostering a community of equality and freedom of participation. By embracing the core values that are tied to the group’s identity, issues of insecurity are erased thereby approving of the differences as important for the creation of a diverse community. This is unlike assimilation which calls for cultural uniformity and creation of new unfamiliar identities which may likely perpetuate the violence in states.

Sometimes, ethnic conflicts are over layers of other sources of conflict. In such instances multiculturalism can do little to provide a long term solution. Thus understanding the real cause and evolution of the conflict is an importance issues before devising methods of suppressing and managing the conflict.