Including contributions from East and Southeast Asia, this work is a study of democratization in ethnically diverse societies. It suggests that the risk of ethnicized conflict, exclusion, or hierarchy during democratization depends in large part on the nature of the ethnic identities and relations constituted during authoritarian rule.
This is a very impressive collection of essays on the interactions of ethnic consciousness and identity in the process of democratization in various Asian states.
Susan J. Henders is assistant professor of political science at York University (Canada) and a member of the York Centre for Asian Research.