Managing Ethnic Conflict: The Merits and Perils of Territorial Accommodation

Territorial accommodation in the management of ethnic conflict, while widely practised, has also been the subject of much academic debate which has failed to reach a conclusive verdict on its utility to contribute to sustainable conflict settlements. Reviewing three recent volumes on the role of institutions in conflict management processes, I focus on their central argument in relation to the question of whether territorial accommodation is a viable strategy for conflict management. While none of the volumes offers a conclusion to the debate over the merits of territorial approaches, they all provide sophisticated answers to some of the key questions continuously raised in this debate and all have significant potential to inform its policy dimension and to shape future research.