GROUPS IN MULTIETHNIC societies want prestige; they want their identity, language, culture, and traditions to be recognized. Ethnic groups also want access to a society's resources, which typically requires a substantial degree of influence and power. Economic and political conflicts are difficult to resolve, but certainly less difficult than issues of nationality, language, territorial homelands, and culture. As Samuel Huntington has written:

Communists can become democrats, the rich can become poor and the poor rich, but Russians cannot become Estonians. . . . In class and ideological conflicts, the key question is "Which side are you on"" and people can and do change sides, but in conflicts between civilizations, the question is "What are you"" That is a given that cannot be changed.

Societies that experience ethnic conflict may have multiple...