Pax Ethnica: Where and How Diversity Succeeds

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Pax Ethnica: Where and How Diversity Succeeds Pub. Date: 3/13/2012 Publisher: PublicAffairs

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Overview

In a world replete with stories of sectarian violence, we are often left wondering: Are there places where people of different ethnicities, especially with significant Muslim minorities, live in peace? If so, why haven’t we heard more about them, and what explains their success?

To answer these questions, Karl Meyer and Shareen Brysac undertook a two-year exploration of oases of civility, places notable for minimal violence, rising life-expectancy, high literacy, and pragmatic compromises on cultural rights. They explored the Indian state of Kerala, the Russian republic of Tatarstan, the city of Marseille in France, the city of Flensburg, Germany, and the borough of Queens, New York. Through scores of interviews, they document ways and means that have proven successful in defusing ethnic tensions. This pathbreaking book elegantly blends political history, sociology, anthropology, and journalism, to provide big ideas for peace.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

From 2009 to 2011, journalist-historians Meyer and Brysac (coauthors of Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East) visited five “neglected oases of civility” where ethnic comity prevails: Flensburg, Germany, where peaceful accommodation reigns after centuries of Schleswig-Holstein strife; the Indian state of Kerala, where Hindu, Muslim, and Christian populations not only “flourish peacefully, but…have led the way in literacy, life expectancy, and health care within the world’s most populous democracy”; the Russian Republic of Tatarstan where “comity contrasts with turbulent Chechnya’s unending strife”; multiethnic Marseilles, France, unaffected by the autumn 2005 violence which spread through hundreds of towns; and Queens, New York, “arguably the world’s most diverse political unit, in which 2.3 million people speak 138 languages.” All share pasts of conflict which the authors succinctly review as they interview a wide range of political figures and distinguished citizens: two legislators in Flensburg; a newspaper editor in Tatarstan; a Keralite environmental activist; Marseille’s premier female rapper; and the Borough President of Queens, among others. Treaty or tradition may contribute to ethnic comity, so may location, the happenstance of history, and the passage of time. In the development of “sane oases in a rabid world,” they argue, individuals make it happen, and they offer “11 guidelines for promoting civility in diverse societies”—un-news, but good news. (Mar.)

Kirkus Reviews

A good-news book, based on serious research, about how traditionally hostile groups can overcome differences to live in harmony. Meyer and Brysac, a married couple, have written previous books together (Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East, 2008, etc.) and separately. By examining "neglected oases of civility," they break from the conventional wisdom that ethnic and religious strife are inevitable when perceived enemies share geographic space. These oases include Flensburg, a northern German city emerging from the Schleswig-Holstein region, the longtime border area contested by the warriors of Denmark; the Republic of Tatarstan in the former Soviet Union, where the Muslim majority and the substantial Orthodox Christian minority coexist peacefully; Marseille, France, where a population that is about one-quarter Muslim, an unusually high percentage for a European nation, mingles successfully with sizable Orthodox Christian and Jewish populations; the state of Kerala in India, a densely populated entity bordering the Arabian Sea, where Hindu, Muslim and Christian communities have practiced mutual respect; and Queens, N.Y., where more than 2 million residents speak 138 languages. The authors on-the-ground reporting is impressive, especially given the built-in language barriers. Near the end of the book, Meyer and Brysac share 11 guidelines "promoting civility in diverse societies," which include public grappling by government and private authorities with stereotypes of unpopular minorities; free reign of minority languages within the larger society; constructing housing to integrate diverse populations rather than segregate them; developing public libraries as community centers to overcome language and other cultural differences; empowering women as well as men; and harnessing popular culture to cross societal barriers. A skillful rendering of an inspiring message.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781586488291
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Publication date: 3/13/2012
Pages: 304
Sales rank: 256,091
Product dimensions: 6.48 (w) x 9.90 (h) x 1.01 (d)

Meet the Author

Karl Meyer

Karl E. Meyer, a Princeton PhD, served on The New York Times editorial board, and previously was a foreign correspondent and editorial writer on The Washington Post. He is author of a dozen books including Dust of Empire, and is emeritus editor of the World Policy Journal.

Shareen Blair Brysac was a prize-winning documentary producer for CBS News and is author of Resisting Hitler: Mildred Fish Harnack and the Red Orchestra. Together they wrote Tournament of Shadows and Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East. The couple live in New York City and Weston, Connecticut.

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