By the Numbers: Ethnic Groups in the World; September 1998; Scientific American Magazine; by Doyle; 1 Page(s)

Many of the world¿s problems stem from the fact that it has 5,000 ethnic groups but only 190 countries. This situation is illustrated on the map, which shows that few states are ethnically homogeneous and that many, particularly in Africa, have no majority ethnic group. Since 1945 some 15 million people have been killed in conflicts involving ethnic violence, although ethnic tensions have not necessarily been the catalyst. Among the worst incidents were the 1994 civil war in Rwanda, which resulted in more than a million dead and three million refugees, and the 1947 communal riots in India, which left several hundred thousand dead and 12 million refugees.

Why are some multiethnic countries plagued by violent, persistent ethnic conflict and others not? There are no completely satisfactory answers, but it is evident that several factors affect the outcome. One of these is the presence or absence of political institutions that give minorities protection against the tyranny of majority rule. Federal systems, such as the one instituted after 1947 in India, can help dampen ethnic tensions by giving minorities regional autonomy. Intermarriage-- between Thais and Chinese in Thailand, say, or Taiwanese and Mainlanders in Taiwan--erodes ethnic differences. And free-market forces tend to mitigate ethnic tensions. For instance, Russia has not adopted an irredentist policy-- there are nearly 25 million Russians in neighboring republics-- arguably because it would interfere with the goal of achieving a Western-style market economy.