History is evident about the horrors of ethnic cleansing, genocide and ethnic conflicts in countries like Rwanda, Nigeria, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and Former Yugoslavia. Therefore, ethnic parties and associations are discouraged and even banned in many countries because of the fear of radical and destructive backlashes of ethnic rights and demands. Gurr warns that the danger of the hegemonic ethnic elites who use the state to promote their own people’s interest at the expense of other ethnic groups giving rise to abuse of authority, state corruption and minority repression can be a significant cause for future ethnic wars.
Ethnicity is not inborn concept but it is a social phenomenon created on the advantage of ethnic elites for political gain. It is often strategically exploited and mobilized in the pursuit of power and scarce resources. It introduces ethnic consciousness and creates new ethnic groups further dividing the societies and blurring the fluid identities. On the one hand, it creates inequalities between regions and blurs national identities on the other. The people of such ethnic-federal state first recognize themselves by their ethnic identity which undermines the significance of undivided national identity. Of course, restructuring the state is not easy but it must not be based on ethnicity and caste instead it must be based on resources and regions that must contain pluralism. Creation of state based on ethnicity or plurality is a weak argument therefore extreme care must be given to the viability states created that way. Whether states’ governments become viable and economically independent, whether they are able to contribute more for their development activities than the central government or just wait for the only funding from central government. If states’ governments wait for the funding of central government then it is a genuine problem and extra burden for tax-payers because their hard-earned money is blatantly spent on day to day expenses and remunerations of states’ ministers and MPs assuring that ethnic federalism is nothing more than a social construct of ethnic elites to take advantage of their people at the expense of others.
author:
Chadra lal Pandey is a PhD Candidate at the University of Waikato, New Zealand .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-yLJNgfeug&feature=related
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