International Approaches to Governing Ethnic Diversity

One of the most remarkable features of the post-Cold War period has been the upsurge of international involvement in questions of ethnic diversity. From the United Nations and the European Court of Human Rights to diverse international philanthropic and advocacy organizations, a wide range of international actors have adopted policies and principles for addressing questions of ethnic rights, identity, and conflict.

International Approaches to Governing Ethnic Diversity explores whether and how these international actors contribute to the peaceful and democratic governance of ethnic diversity. It focuses on two broad areas of international work: the evolution of international legal norms regarding the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples, and international approaches to conflict and post-conflict development. The book charts new territory by mapping the range of international actors who affect the governance of ethnic diversity, and exploring their often contradictory roles and impacts. Most international actors come to questions of ethnic diversity indirectly and reluctantly, on the basis of widely varying mandates many of which were established to fulfill other objectives.They naturally therefore have different priorities and perspectives. And yet, the book identifies a striking convergence amongst international actors around discourses of diversity and equality, demonstrating the existence of an epistemic community where actors work within common vocabularies, discourses and principles that attempt to link human rights, pluralism, development and peace.

Jane Boulden, Canada Research Chair in International Relations and Security Studies, Royal Military College of Canada,Will Kymlicka, Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy, Queen's University

Jane Boulden is the Canada Research Chair in International Relations and Security Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada. She is also a Research Fellow at the Queen's University Centre for International and Defence Policy. From 2000 until 2004 she was a MacArthur Research Fellow at the Centre for International Studies, University of Oxford. Her most recent edited book is Responding to Conflict in Africa, The United Nations and Regional Organizations (Palgrave Macmillan , 2013).


Will Kymlicka is the Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. His work, translated into 34 languages, has focused on how democratic countries address issues of ethnic, racial and religious diversity, with a special focus on the theory and practice of multicultural citizenship. He is the author of seven books published by Oxford University Press, including Multicultural Citizenship (1995), and Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity (2007).

1. Introduction, Jane Boulden and Will Kymlicka
Part 1 International Legal Norms: Ethnic Diversity and International Human Rights
2. Minorities before the European Court of Human Rights: Democratic Pluralism Unfolded, Lourdes Peroni
3. The governance of religious diversity at the European Court of Human Rights, Matthias Koenig
4. The European Union's Troublesome Minority Protection: A Bird-s Eye View, Dimitry Kochenov
5. International Approaches to Governing Temporary Labour Migrants: A Critical Assessment of the UN Committee on Migrant Workers, the ILO Conventions on Labour Migration, and the International Migrants Alliance, Ethel Tungohan
6. The Role of International Actors in Norm Emergence: Supporting Afro-Descendants' Rights in Latin America, Corinne Lennox
Part 2: International Approaches to Conflict and Post-Conflict Development
7. Trapped in the Liberal Peace: The EU's Approach to Peacebuilding via Civil Society, Raffaele Marchetti and Nathalie Tocci
8. International Approaches to Governing Ethnic Diversity: Can Development Aid Be a Tool in this Toolkit?, Elisabeth King
9. The United Nations Security Council, Ethnicity and Ethnic Conflict, Jane Boulden
10. International Engagement and the Governance of Ethnic Diversity in Georgia, Neil MacFarlane
11. Internationalized Minority Territorial Autonomy in Early Post-WWI Europe: The Limits and Possibilities of International Ethnic Diversity Governance, Susan Henders