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Addressing Social Diversity: Diagnosis before action At the time, it was thought that "ethnic mathematics" could take care of such societal splits: You calculate the population percentages represented by each ethnic group within a given state and divide the political power between them proportionately. And, sometimes, you give certain advantages to some groups so that they do not get "lost." This approach was also applied outside of Africa. For example, when the Republic of Cyprus was founded in 1960, its Constitution required that a Cypriot Greek always be the president of this island state, and that a Cypriot Turk always be the Vice President. The members of the parliament and cabinet, as well as the police force, were divided according to the percentages of Greek and Turkish population on the island. The Republic of Cyprus, as it was thus created and intended, lasted for only three years, however. Diverse groups often become involved in intense emotional interactions with each other. Political scientist Donald Horowitz, an expert on ethnic mathematics, notes that the level of passion expressed in diversity conflicts "calls out for [an] explanation that does justice to the realm of feelings," and that "a bloody phenomenon cannot be explained by a bloodless theory."(1) There are many different types of societal splits that exist within states, and some of them may not be along ethnic lines. Antagonist groups may be divided according to religious, racial, or ideological characteristics. The following are examples of different "co-existence" problems. |
When the colonial empires in Africa collapsed and the colonizers
left, many newly independent African states found themselves faced
with ethnically diverse and divided societies. 
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When the Baltic Republics (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) regained their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, each of these newly independent nations found itself with large segments of "unwanted" Russians among its population (including Russian-speakers of other ethnicities who were perceived as Russian by the native populations). In Lithuania, 8 percent of the population was "Russian," in Estonia 37 percent, and in Latvia 44 percent. The question facing the Baltic States was what to do with them? During the Soviet period, practically all Russians living in the Baltic Republics had no need to learn or speak Estonian, Latvian, or Lithuanian. Now, in order to adjust to life in these newly independent countries, the "foreigners" had to learn their "host" country's language. In turn, influenced greatly by mixed, but mostly negative, emotions of living under the Soviet Union for about 50 years, Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians began to ponder who among the "foreigners" (Russians) should be accepted as citizens. Three years after Estonia regained its independence, the University of Virginia's Center for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction (CSMHI), of which I am the director, began a project in Estonia in collaboration with the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. We organized a multi-year series of dialogues bringing together unofficially a group of Estonian parliamentarians and scholars, the Russian ambassador to Estonia, Russian parliamentarians and scholars, and leaders of Russian-speakers in Estonia. As expected, the "coexistence" problem in Estonia was
one of the major issues discussed. At the time, Estonians' main
fear was of "mixing blood" with the Russians, which they felt would
result in their losing their true Estonian identity and disappearing
as a people. This feeling in turn played a role in developing stringent
language requirements for citizenship for Russians living in Estonia
(who were not already citizens).
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