Minorities should be given freehand
In his groundbreaking 1993 article in Foreign Affairs, Samuel P Huntington proposed that the fundamental source of conflict in the new world will not be primarily ideological or economic, but cultural. He set the ground for a new debate in the discipline of international relations. Whereas it was focused on the security dilemma earlier, today it is focused almost entirely on the ethnic security dilemma.
According to this theory, ethnic issues have protracted and expanded. So much so that wars on the basis of ethnicity are the major upcoming threat which will affect the national security of the states and subsequently disturb international peace. Owing to their sheer complexity, these conflicts over race, religion, language and identity are extremely difficult to resolve or manage. The huge diversity in cultures, religions, languages and civilisations in South Asian region, for example, has caused many inter-state and intra-state conflicts. And over time, they have evolved into a threat for the region.
The question thus arises: Will this conflict be suppressed? Or will it dominate in the near future? And what would be a possible settlement to avoid it?
According to Winston Churchill, mixture of populations causes endless trouble. In order to avoid these sufferings, partition is the best solution.
In the case of Israel-Palestine conflict, the idea of a bi-national state would not be the ideal solution. Instead, a two-state solution where there is no intermixing of populations, will promise greater likelihood for minimising future clashes. Not only will it relieve Israel of an increasingly taxing military policy, but also ensure Palestine the freedom to practise her own ideology and culture.
Inequality and disparity between different ethnicities as manifested in the dominance of one and suppression of the other, also makes conflict inevitable. In Nigeria and South Africa, uneven development caused diverse groups to compete for resources, multiethnic communities violently clashed for property, rights, education, jobs and good health care facilities. Economic factors have been one of the major causes of these ethnic tensions, Pakistan being a case in point.
Economic disparities between former West and East Pakistan were so high that it resulted in the eventual dismemberment of the state. Despite the foreign exchange earnings from East Pakistan,the developments majorly took place in West Pakistan leaving the eastern part deprived.
States should have well-functioning institutions that set the foundations for peace and security. They should be guided by principles of equality and non-discrimination with respect to all ethnic groups. It is their failure that causes conflicts to grow stronger and gain momentum. The management of religious, cultural and ethnic diversities is a state responsibility. The inability of national bodies to recognise this diversity, plus the discrimination and biasedness towards ethnic out-groups, instantiates as a threat not only to the people but also to the state. It upsets a delicately maintained domestic equilibrium, and eventually also puts international stability in jeopardy.
The CSCE Copenhagen Document and Charter of Paris, the UN Declaration on Minorities and CE Framework Convention for National Minorities, all recommend giving minorities the right to maintain and establish their own cultural, religious and educational institutions. Ensuring fundamental human rights, freedom of language, and social justice for people, irrespective of their ethnic differences, will bring states one step closer to resolving the ethnic security dilemma. Education can also play a vital role in this respect, France and Germany being a case in point. After World War II, both the French and Germans rewrote their textbooks and gave objective interpretations of their successes and failures, rather than propagandistically glorifying victory.
In addition, formation of sub-national units for various racial or ethnic groups can also be beneficial since it assures the accommodation of rival interests. If the social and cultural identities of individuals are respected then there will be less chances of ethnic groups demanding separate statehood.
Ethnic diversities have remained a source of friction within and between many states of Asia, Africa and Europe. A number of bilateral treaties have been signed to overcome the national and international tensions created by these conflicts, but none of their outcomes have been effective.
