In five pages the distinctions between ethnic and civic democracies are examined with a consideration of democratization's dangers and the different outcomes with civic democracy representing a more peaceful government while the ethnic variety does not. Five sources are cited in the bibliography.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_khciveth.rtf
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a more peaceful world" (p. 58). While Snyder (2000) shares this positive appraisal, he also cautions that the process of democratization does not encourage peace, but rather the opposite. Snyder
states that "the transition to democratic politics ...(creates) fertile conditions for nationalism and ethnic conflict, which not only raises the costs of the transition but may also redirect popular
participation into a lengthy antidemocratic detour" (2000, p. 20). This brings up the question as to what characteristics of representative democracy are the most, and least, likely to facilitate
the establishment of a stable and peaceful government. Snyder (2000) offers at least part of the answer in his discussion of "civic" and "ethnic" democracies. For example, in order
to be considered truly "German," one has to have descended from German ancestors. Turks families that have lived in Germany for four generations are not considered "German." Ignatieff (1993)
credits the Germans for inventing ethnic nationalism in order to being all of the various German states together as a viable fighting force against Napoleon. As this suggests, ethnic democracies
begin with an affirmation of group identity, while asserting the right to self-government (Ignatieff, 1993). However, as it did in the French Revolution, this tends to deteriorate into fanaticism that
turns on anything and everything that is not ethnically "pure" (Ignatieff, 1993). This can quickly lead to war. What happens is that ethnic democracy encourages the development of
ethnocentric attitudes -- i.e. that ones culture and group are superior to all others. This sort of attitude naturally leads to attributing evil characteristics and attitudes towards ones counterparts in
other "lesser" nations (Stoessinger, 1998). The inflated feelings of superiority encouraged by ethnic democracy also give leaders the false assumption that war can be conducted swiftly and victoriously. A