Most advanced industrial democracies have been successful in peacefully controlling ethnic political conflicts. This book examines such conflicts in seven ethnoregions-in Canada, Scotland, Belgium, and Spain-to explain what determines electoral support for ethnoregional parties and why in some cases electoral conflict has co-existed with ethnic violence.

Most advanced industrial democracies have been successful in controlling ethnic political conflicts peacefully. This book examines ethnoregional conflicts in seven ethnoregions—in Scotland, Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels, Quebec, Northern Ireland, and the Basque region of Spain—to explain what mactors determine electoral support for ethnoregional parties, why in some cases electoral conflict has co-existed with ethnic violence, and why there appears to be an inverse relationship between electoral success and policy success among many ethnoregional parties. As ethnic conflicts—peaceful and violent—continue to rage around the world, this important new study merits the attention of scholars and students in comparative politics and ethnic studies.