Santosh C. Saha Livres

The book explores the evolving perspective on human rights in developing countries, particularly in Africa, emphasizing the integration of employment, education, and other basic rights with political rights. It highlights movements advocating for children's and women's rights alongside civil and political rights. By examining the efforts of various human rights organizations, the volume provides a comprehensive look at the current landscape of rights advocacy in Africa, addressing both fundamental and expansive rights.

Constructive ethnicity is explored as a means to integrate linguistic and ethnic groups into the state-building process in developing countries. The book posits that, rather than being divisive, ethnicity can play a positive role in fostering national community, as demonstrated by case studies from Rwanda, Cyprus, India, Palestine, and China. It emphasizes the moral and pragmatic aspects of ethnicity, advocating for its recognition within modern state systems to enhance unity and development.

An authoritative guide to the complexities of ethnic conflict in terms of linguistics, territory, and ethnicity in various regions, The Politics of Ethnicity and National Identity argues that ethnicity, used as a tool both for oppression and for liberation, plays an influential and controversial role in constructive state-building. The contributors to this volume use various research methodologies to affirm that positive territorial identities often emerge from community-based organizations and groups. As an alternative to the derivative nationalist project that so far has only resulted in conditions for a soft state, this book examines the issue of whether ethnicity and community attachments are at the heart of civil conflict and war.