Ethnic diversity and federalism. Constitution making in South Africa and Ethiopia Yonatan Tesfaye Fessha Ashgate Farnham, Surrey and Burlington VT, 2012

Almost all countries in the world have ethnically diverse populations. However many of them have been -and are still -apprehensive about recognizing this societal feature in their constitutions and state institutions. This has been a fortiori the case for most African countries, whose leaders fear that the constitutional recognition and institutional accommodation of ethnic diversity will lead to societal disintegration and the ultimate collapse of the state. Yet, countless political conflicts have demonstrated that the denial and corresponding "Suppression of ethnic diversity does not at all constitute a successful nationbuilding strategy. Consequently, today in Africa and elsewhere an increasing number of countries are adopting a different approach towards the ethnic diversity of their population, an approach based on recognition and some form ofinstitutional accommodation of ethnic pluralism. It is against this background that Yonatan Tesfaye Fessha compares the constitutional approaches towards ethnic diversity of two African countries: South Africa and Ethiopia

Constitution · Ethnic group · Federalism · Geography · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Aging, Elder Care, and Social Issues · Health, Medicine and Society · Hermeneutics and Narrative Identity · Law