Building democratic system in a multi ethnic society

Abstract

The nature of ethnicity makes building democracy in multiethnic

societies a complex process compared to other social

affiliations such as economic class, political beliefs etc. We find

people usually want and can change but with ethnicity, people

usually don’t want or cannot change. The same can be said with

governments; a government can change economic and social

condition but it cannot change ethnicity. The unique nature of

ethnicity makes building democracy in a multi-ethnic society a

very complex process1. Nevertheless, to solve ethnicity problems,

political thinkers have suggested four conditions which must be

present in order to build a successful democratic political system

in multi-ethnic societies. According to Lijphart2, the conditions