Polyethnicity
Encyclopedia
Polyethnicity refers to the close proximity of people from different ethnic backgrounds within a country
or other specific geographic region. It also relates to the ability and willingness of individuals to identify themselves with multiple ethnicities
. It occurs when multiple ethnicities inhabit a given area, specifically through means of immigration
, intermarriage
, trade
, conquest
, and post-war land-divisions. Professor William H. McNeill states in his series of lectures on polyethnicity that it is the societal norm for cultures to be made up of many ethnic groups. This has had many political and social implications on countries and regions.
Many, if not all, countries have some level of polyethnicity, with countries like the United States
and Canada
having large levels and countries like Japan
and Poland
having relatively small levels (and more specifically, a sense of homogeneity). The amount of polyethnicity prevalent in current society has spurred some arguments against it, which include a belief that it leads to the weakening of each societies strengths, and also a belief that political-ethnic issues in countries with polyethnic populations are better handled with different laws for certain ethnicities.
. The main thesis throughout the lectures was that it has been the cultural norm
for societies to be made up of different ethnic groups. McNeill states that the ideal of homogeneous societies may have grown between 1750 and 1920 in Western Europe
due to a growth in the belief in a single nationalistic
base for the political organization of society. McNeill believes that World War I
was the point in time when the desire for homogeneous nations began to weaken.
as local and national governments attempt to satisfy all ethnic groups. Many politician
s in countries attempt to find the balance between ethnic identities
within their country and the identity of the nation as a whole. Nationalism also plays a large part in these political debates, as cultural pluralism
and consociationalism
are the democratic alternatives to nationalism for the polyethnic state. The idea of nationalism being social instead of ethnic entails a variety of culture, a shared sense of identity, and a community not based on descent. Culturally plural states vary constitutionally between a decentralized and unitary state (such as Great Britain
) and a federal state (such as Belgium, Switzerland
, or Canada). Ethnic parties in these polyethnic regions are not anti-state but instead seek maximum power within this state. Many polyethnic countries face this dilemma with their policy decisions. The following nations and regions are just a few specific examples of this dilemma and its effects.
is a nation founded by different ethnicities coming together in a melting pot
. A controversial political issue in recent years has been the question of bilingualism
. Many immigrants
have come from Hispanic America
, who are native Spanish
speakers, in the past centuries and have become a significant minority and even a majority in many areas of the Southwest
. In New Mexico
the Spanish speaking population exceeds 40%.
Disputes have emerged over language policy, since a sizable part of the population, and in many areas the majority of the population, speak Spanish as a native language. The biggest debates are over bilingual education for language minority students, the availability of non-English ballots and election materials, and whether or not English is the official language. It has evolved into an ethnic conflict between the pluralists who support bilingualism and linguistic access and the assimilationists who strongly oppose this and lead the official English movement
.
The United States does not have an official language
, but English is the de facto
national language.
has had many political debates between the French
speakers and English
speakers, particularly in the province
of Quebec
. Canada holds both French and English as official languages. The politics in Quebec are largely defined by nationalism
as French Québécois
wish to gain independence from Canada as a whole, based on ethnic and linguistic boundaries.
The main separatist party, Parti Québécois
, attempted to gain sovereignty twice (once in 1980 and again in 1995) and failed by a narrow margin of 1.2% in 1995. Since then, in order to remain united, Canada granted Quebec statut particulier, recognizing Quebec as a nation within the united nation of Canada.
-speaking north (Flanders
) and the French
-speaking South (Wallonia) has caused the parliamentary democracy to become ethnically polarized. Though an equal number of seats in the Chamber of Representatives are prescribed to the Flemish and Walloons, Belgian political parties
have all divided into two ideologically
identical but linguistically and ethnically different parties. The political crisis has grown so bad in recent years that the partition of Belgium
has been feared.
is a polyethnic nation
consisting of 80 different ethnic group
s and 84 indigenous language
s. Due to the diverse population and rural areas throughout the nation, it was nearly impossible to create a strong centralized state; though it was eventually accomplished through political evolution. Prior to 1974, nationalism was only discussed within radical student groups, but by the late 20th century the issue had come to the forefront of political debate. Ethiopia was forced to modernize their political system to properly handle the nationalism debates. The Derg
military regime took control with a Marxist-Leninist
ideology, urging self-determination
and rejecting compromise over any nationality issues. In the 1980s, Ethiopia suffered a series of famines and after the USSR broke apart, they lost their aid from the Soviet Union
and the Derg regime collapsed. Eventually Ethiopia restabilized and adopted a modern political system that models a federal parliamentary republic
. It was still impossible to create a central government holding all power, so the government was torn. The central federal government now presides over ethnically-based regional states and each ethnic state is granted the right to establish their own government and democracy
.
from 1808-1814 the Spanish War of Independence took place amidst a multi-cultural Spain. Spain, at the time, was under the control of King Joseph
, who was Napoleon I of France
's brother. Because the nation was under the control of French rule, the Spanish formed coalition
s of ethnic groups to reclaim their own political representation, instead of the current French political system in power.
the continental area (Myanmar
, Thailand
, Laos
, Cambodia
, and Vietnam
) generally practices Theravada Buddhism
. Most of insular
Southeast Asia (namely Malaysia, Brunei
and Indonesia
) practices mostly Sunni Islam
. The rest of the insular region (Philippines
and East Timor
) practices mostly Roman Catholic Christianity and Singapore
practises mostly Mahayana Buddhism
. Significant long-distance labor migration that occurred during the late 19th into the early 20th century provided many different types of ethnic diversity. Relations between the indigenous
population of the region arose from regional variations of cultural and linguistic group. During this time immigrant minorities, especially the Chinese, developed as well. Although there were extreme political differences for each minority and religion, they were still legitimate members of political communities and there has been a significant amount of unity throughout history. This differs from both nearby East
and South Asia
.
.
(laws banning interracial marriages) were abolished in the United States in 1967 and now it is estimated that one-fifth of the population in the United States by 2050 will be part of the polyethnic population. In 2000, self-identified Multiracial Americans numbered 6.8 million or 2.4% of the population.
While the number of interethnic marriages is on the rise, there are certain ethnic groups that have been found more likely to become polyethnic and recognize themselves with more than one ethnic background. Bhavani Arabandi states in his article on polyethnicity that:
, and China
. Polyethnic armed forces are not a new phenomenon; multi-ethnic forces have been in existence since the ancient Roman Empire
, Middle Eastern Empires
and even the Mongol Khans. The U.S. Military
was one of the first modern militaries to begin ethnic integration, by order of President Truman
in 1945.
.
In The Ethnostate, Robertson declares polyethnicity as an ideal that only lessens each culture. He believes that, within a polyethnic culture, the nation or region as a whole is less capable of cultural culmination than each of the individual ethnicities that make it up. Essentially, polyethnicity promotes the dilution of ethnicity and thus hinders each ethnicity in all aspects of culture.
In The Political Demands of Isolated Indian Bands in British Columbia, Thomson points out the benefits in some level (albeit small) of separatist policies. He argues the benefits of allowing ethnic groups, like the Amish
and the Hutterite
s in the United States and Canada or the Sami
in Norway
, to live on the edges of governance. These are ethnic groups that would prefer to retain their ethnic identity and thus prefer separatist policies for themselves, as they do not require them to conform to policies for all ethnicities of the nation.
Country
A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously...
or other specific geographic region. It also relates to the ability and willingness of individuals to identify themselves with multiple ethnicities
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
. It occurs when multiple ethnicities inhabit a given area, specifically through means of immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
, intermarriage
Interracial marriage
Interracial marriage occurs when two people of differing racial groups marry. This is a form of exogamy and can be seen in the broader context of miscegenation .-Legality of interracial marriage:In the Western world certain jurisdictions have had regulations...
, trade
Trade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
, conquest
Conquest (military)
Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. One example is the Norman conquest of England, which provided the subjugation of the Kingdom of England and the acquisition of the English crown by William the Conqueror in 1066...
, and post-war land-divisions. Professor William H. McNeill states in his series of lectures on polyethnicity that it is the societal norm for cultures to be made up of many ethnic groups. This has had many political and social implications on countries and regions.
Many, if not all, countries have some level of polyethnicity, with countries like the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
having large levels and countries like Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
having relatively small levels (and more specifically, a sense of homogeneity). The amount of polyethnicity prevalent in current society has spurred some arguments against it, which include a belief that it leads to the weakening of each societies strengths, and also a belief that political-ethnic issues in countries with polyethnic populations are better handled with different laws for certain ethnicities.
Conceptual history
In 1985 Professor William H. McNeill, a Canadian historian known for his expertise on the subject of polyethnicity, gave a series of three lectures on polyethnicity in ancient and modern cultures at the University of TorontoUniversity of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
. The main thesis throughout the lectures was that it has been the cultural norm
Norm (sociology)
Social norms are the accepted behaviors within a society or group. This sociological and social psychological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit...
for societies to be made up of different ethnic groups. McNeill states that the ideal of homogeneous societies may have grown between 1750 and 1920 in Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
due to a growth in the belief in a single nationalistic
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
base for the political organization of society. McNeill believes that World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
was the point in time when the desire for homogeneous nations began to weaken.
Impact on politics
Polyethnicity divides nations, complicating the politicsPolitics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
as local and national governments attempt to satisfy all ethnic groups. Many politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
s in countries attempt to find the balance between ethnic identities
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
within their country and the identity of the nation as a whole. Nationalism also plays a large part in these political debates, as cultural pluralism
Cultural pluralism
Cultural pluralism is a term used when smaller groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities, and their values and practices are accepted by the wider culture. Cultural pluralism is often confused with Multiculturalism...
and consociationalism
Consociationalism
Consociationalism is a form of government involving guaranteed group representation, and is often suggested for managing conflict in deeply divided societies...
are the democratic alternatives to nationalism for the polyethnic state. The idea of nationalism being social instead of ethnic entails a variety of culture, a shared sense of identity, and a community not based on descent. Culturally plural states vary constitutionally between a decentralized and unitary state (such as Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
) and a federal state (such as Belgium, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, or Canada). Ethnic parties in these polyethnic regions are not anti-state but instead seek maximum power within this state. Many polyethnic countries face this dilemma with their policy decisions. The following nations and regions are just a few specific examples of this dilemma and its effects.
United States
The United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
is a nation founded by different ethnicities coming together in a melting pot
Melting pot
The melting pot is a metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" into a harmonious whole with a common culture...
. A controversial political issue in recent years has been the question of bilingualism
Multilingualism
Multilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...
. Many immigrants
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
have come from Hispanic America
Hispanic America
Hispanic America or Spanish America is the region comprising the American countries inhabited by Spanish-speaking populations.These countries have significant commonalities with each other and with Spain, whose colonies they formerly were...
, who are native Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
speakers, in the past centuries and have become a significant minority and even a majority in many areas of the Southwest
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
. In New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
the Spanish speaking population exceeds 40%.
Disputes have emerged over language policy, since a sizable part of the population, and in many areas the majority of the population, speak Spanish as a native language. The biggest debates are over bilingual education for language minority students, the availability of non-English ballots and election materials, and whether or not English is the official language. It has evolved into an ethnic conflict between the pluralists who support bilingualism and linguistic access and the assimilationists who strongly oppose this and lead the official English movement
English-only movement
English-only movement, also known as Official English movement, refers to a political movement for the use only of the English language in official government operations through the establishing of English as the only official language in the United States...
.
The United States does not have an official language
Official language
An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
, but English is the de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
national language.
Canada
CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
has had many political debates between the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
speakers and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
speakers, particularly in the province
Provinces and territories of Canada
The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...
of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. Canada holds both French and English as official languages. The politics in Quebec are largely defined by nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
as French Québécois
French-speaking Quebecer
French-speaking Quebecers are francophone residents of the Canadian province of Quebec....
wish to gain independence from Canada as a whole, based on ethnic and linguistic boundaries.
The main separatist party, Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
, attempted to gain sovereignty twice (once in 1980 and again in 1995) and failed by a narrow margin of 1.2% in 1995. Since then, in order to remain united, Canada granted Quebec statut particulier, recognizing Quebec as a nation within the united nation of Canada.
Belgium
The divide between the DutchDutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
-speaking north (Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
) and the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
-speaking South (Wallonia) has caused the parliamentary democracy to become ethnically polarized. Though an equal number of seats in the Chamber of Representatives are prescribed to the Flemish and Walloons, Belgian political parties
Political Parties
Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy is a book by sociologist Robert Michels, published in 1911 , and first introducing the concept of iron law of oligarchy...
have all divided into two ideologically
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
identical but linguistically and ethnically different parties. The political crisis has grown so bad in recent years that the partition of Belgium
Partition of Belgium
The partition of Belgium, or the dissolution of the Belgian state through the separation of the Dutch-speaking people of the Flanders region and Brussels from the French-speaking people of the Walloon region and Brussels, granting them either independence or respective accession to the Netherlands...
has been feared.
Ethiopia
EthiopiaEthiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
is a polyethnic nation
Nation
A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, and/or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government irrespective of their ethnic make-up...
consisting of 80 different ethnic group
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
s and 84 indigenous language
Indigenous language
An indigenous language or autochthonous language is a language that is native to a region and spoken by indigenous peoples but has been reduced to the status of a minority language. This language would be from a linguistically distinct community that has been settled in the area for many generations...
s. Due to the diverse population and rural areas throughout the nation, it was nearly impossible to create a strong centralized state; though it was eventually accomplished through political evolution. Prior to 1974, nationalism was only discussed within radical student groups, but by the late 20th century the issue had come to the forefront of political debate. Ethiopia was forced to modernize their political system to properly handle the nationalism debates. The Derg
Derg
The Derg or Dergue was a Communist military junta that came to power in Ethiopia following the ousting of Haile Selassie I. Derg, which means "committee" or "council" in Ge'ez, is the short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a committee of...
military regime took control with a Marxist-Leninist
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
ideology, urging self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
and rejecting compromise over any nationality issues. In the 1980s, Ethiopia suffered a series of famines and after the USSR broke apart, they lost their aid from the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and the Derg regime collapsed. Eventually Ethiopia restabilized and adopted a modern political system that models a federal parliamentary republic
Federal parliamentary republic
A federal parliamentary republic refers to a federation of states with a republican form of government that is, more or less, dependent upon the confidence of parliaments at both the national and subnational levels...
. It was still impossible to create a central government holding all power, so the government was torn. The central federal government now presides over ethnically-based regional states and each ethnic state is granted the right to establish their own government and democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
.
19th Century Spain
In SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
from 1808-1814 the Spanish War of Independence took place amidst a multi-cultural Spain. Spain, at the time, was under the control of King Joseph
Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily , and later King of Spain...
, who was Napoleon I of France
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
's brother. Because the nation was under the control of French rule, the Spanish formed coalition
Coalition
A coalition is a pact or treaty among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience. A coalition thus differs from a more formal covenant...
s of ethnic groups to reclaim their own political representation, instead of the current French political system in power.
Southeast Asia
In Southeast AsiaSoutheast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
the continental area (Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
, and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
) generally practices Theravada Buddhism
Theravada
Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...
. Most of insular
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
Southeast Asia (namely Malaysia, Brunei
Brunei
Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...
and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
) practices mostly Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
. The rest of the insular region (Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and East Timor
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
) practices mostly Roman Catholic Christianity and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
practises mostly Mahayana Buddhism
Mahayana
Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
. Significant long-distance labor migration that occurred during the late 19th into the early 20th century provided many different types of ethnic diversity. Relations between the indigenous
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
population of the region arose from regional variations of cultural and linguistic group. During this time immigrant minorities, especially the Chinese, developed as well. Although there were extreme political differences for each minority and religion, they were still legitimate members of political communities and there has been a significant amount of unity throughout history. This differs from both nearby East
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
and South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
.
Impact on society
Polyethnicity, over time, can change the way societies practice cultural normsNorm (sociology)
Social norms are the accepted behaviors within a society or group. This sociological and social psychological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit...
.
Marriage
An increase in intermarriage in the United States has led to the blurring of ethnic lines. Anti-miscegenation lawsAnti-miscegenation laws
Anti-miscegenation laws, also known as miscegenation laws, were laws that enforced racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizing interracial marriage and sometimes also sex between members of different races...
(laws banning interracial marriages) were abolished in the United States in 1967 and now it is estimated that one-fifth of the population in the United States by 2050 will be part of the polyethnic population. In 2000, self-identified Multiracial Americans numbered 6.8 million or 2.4% of the population.
While the number of interethnic marriages is on the rise, there are certain ethnic groups that have been found more likely to become polyethnic and recognize themselves with more than one ethnic background. Bhavani Arabandi states in his article on polyethnicity that:
Asians and Latinos have much higher rates of interethnic marriages than do blacks, and they are more likely to report polyethnicity than blacks who more often claim a single ethnicity and racial identity. This is the case, the authors [Lee, J & Bean, F.D] argue, because blacks have a "legacy of slavery," a history of discrimination, and have been victimized by the "one drop rule" (where having any black blood automatically labeled one as black) in the US.
Military
Presently, most armed forces are composed of people from different ethnic backgrounds. They are considered to be polyethnic due to the differences in race, ethnicity, language or background. While there are many examples of polyethnic forces, the most prominent are among the largest armed forces in the world, including those of the United States, the former USSRSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. Polyethnic armed forces are not a new phenomenon; multi-ethnic forces have been in existence since the ancient Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, Middle Eastern Empires
Middle Eastern Empires
The Middle East has been the political center of several empires through history. Many of the earliest known empires originated in the middle east. Middle eastern empires have been instrumental in the spreading of ideas, technology and religions within its territories and to outliers...
and even the Mongol Khans. The U.S. Military
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
was one of the first modern militaries to begin ethnic integration, by order of President Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
in 1945.
Criticisms
There are also arguments against polyethnicity, as well as the assimilation of ethnicities in polyethnic regions. Wilmot Robertson in The Ethnostate and Dennis L. Thomson in The Political Demands of Isolated Indian Bands in British Columbia, argue for some level of separatismSeparatism
Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...
.
In The Ethnostate, Robertson declares polyethnicity as an ideal that only lessens each culture. He believes that, within a polyethnic culture, the nation or region as a whole is less capable of cultural culmination than each of the individual ethnicities that make it up. Essentially, polyethnicity promotes the dilution of ethnicity and thus hinders each ethnicity in all aspects of culture.
In The Political Demands of Isolated Indian Bands in British Columbia, Thomson points out the benefits in some level (albeit small) of separatist policies. He argues the benefits of allowing ethnic groups, like the Amish
Amish
The Amish , sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites, are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches...
and the Hutterite
Hutterite
Hutterites are a communal branch of Anabaptists who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the 16th century. Since the death of their founder Jakob Hutter in 1536, the beliefs of the Hutterites, especially living in a community of goods and absolute...
s in the United States and Canada or the Sami
Sami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, to live on the edges of governance. These are ethnic groups that would prefer to retain their ethnic identity and thus prefer separatist policies for themselves, as they do not require them to conform to policies for all ethnicities of the nation.
See also
- Diaspora politicsDiaspora politicsDiaspora politics is the political behavior of transnational ethnic diasporas, their relationship with their ethnic homelands and their host states, as well as their prominent role in ethnic conflicts...
- Ethnic GroupEthnic groupAn ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
- EthnopoliticsEthnopoliticsEthnopolitics, formerly known as Global Review of Ethnopolitics, is a peer-reviewed academic journal focusing on the intersection of ethnic groups and politics. It was established in the United Kingdom by the Political Studies Association's Specialist Group on Ethnopolitics...
- InterculturalismInterculturalismInterculturalism is the philosophy of exchanges between cultural groups within a society, as used by nationalists of the Canadian province of Quebec. Quebeckers have historically been sensitive to any perceived degradation of their heritage...
- Interracial marriageInterracial marriageInterracial marriage occurs when two people of differing racial groups marry. This is a form of exogamy and can be seen in the broader context of miscegenation .-Legality of interracial marriage:In the Western world certain jurisdictions have had regulations...
- MulticulturalismMulticulturalismMulticulturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
- MultilingualismMultilingualismMultilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...
- NationalismNationalismNationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
- TransnationalismTransnationalismTransnationalism is a social movement and scholarly research agenda grown out of the heightened interconnectivity between people and the receding economic and social significance of boundaries among nation states....