Culture as a Determining Variable

In their book „Zwischen Bürgerkrieg und friedlicher Koexistenz“, Peter Kreuzer and Mirjam Weiberg analyze the causes of violent inter-ethnical conflicts in democracies

In their book „Zwischen Bürgerkrieg und friedlicher Koexistenz. Interethnische Konfliktbearbeitung in den Philippinen, Sri Lanka und Malaysia“ (Between civil war and peaceful coexistence. Inter-ethnical conflict treatment in Philippines, Sri Lanka and Malaysia), Peter Kreuzer and Mirjam Weiberg deal with the question whether democracies are more peaceful per se than other regimes. The authors compare three multi-ethnical societies in South-and South-East-Asia in regard to their ability to solve conflicts in a non-violent way.

 

Sri Lanka and the Philippines, being democracies for a long time, are not able to end the civil wars in their territories. According to Kreuzer and Weiberg, reasons for that could be that neither multi-ethnicity promotes violence, nor that democracy serves as a universal remedy for inter-ethnical conflicts.

 

Kreuzer and Weiberg identify the variable culture as a vital factor that can lead into violence as well as it can show ways out of it. Depending on cultural patterns, also ethnicity and political institutions can either civilize or worsen conflicts.

 

The book summarizes the results of the DFG-project „The Cultural Foundation of Political Violence in Multiethnic Asian Societies“.

 

The book is published by transcript (ISBN: 978-3-89942-758-5) and costs 40,80 euros. Following the link you can read an extract and order the book: http://www.transcript-verlag.de/ts758/ts758.htm