Coping with Ethnic Conflicts in Eastern Europe

Abstract

The present outburst of ethnic conflicts in Eastern Europe seems to manifest itself in a bundle of paradoxes:

• liberal democratic states tend to solve ethnic conflicts in a peaceful manner, while in Eastern Europe democratization has so far led to an increase in the level of ethnic tensions and violence;

• in Western Europe the tendency is towards supranationalism and the gradual disintegration of national identities; in Eastern Europe the opposite trend is prevailing, from supranationalism to the independent nation state;

• in spite of international pressure from outside, often including threats of economic sanctions, abuses of human and civil rights in Eastern Europe are ignored;

• although the international community has dedicated a large amount of resources (diplomatic, military, moral) to bringing peace to the region, ethnic violence and mutual slaughter are still very much a fact of life.