The politics of identity and ethnicity are resurgent. Civil society, whose revival was much vaunted, was riven by communal tensions particularly of ethnicity and religion. The contributors address questions such as: Why is ethnicity a political problem? How is the problem manifested? Which institutional models offer ways of ameliorating the challenges that ethnicity poses to democratic nation-building? North America: Ohio U Press

"This is a very useful collection that will hold an important place in the literature for a while to come. ...Those who care about reform, from the AU to Tony Blair's Commission for Africa - will find here a timely and healthy dose of realism which deserves to be widely read. - Peter Woodward in the LUCAS Bulletin Through theoretical and empirical analyses, the contributors to Ethnicity and Democracy in Africa refreshingly and convincingly remind us instead that ethnic attachments and democracy need not be mutually exclusive. ... what Ethnicity and Democracy in Africa does call for is an African solution or solutions to this issue emerging from a dialogue among scholars, intellectuals, politicians and publics and joined by Africanists throughout the world - a dialogue to which this book has contributed. - Marie-Eve Desrosiers in AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW Lonsdale's chapter inaugurates a stream of substantial chapters whose informative analyses are likely to be this volume's greatest service to students. - Harri Englund in AFRICAN HISTORY"