Building democratic system in a multi ethnic society Iraq : 2003-2005

Abstract EN

The nature of ethnicity makes building democracy in multiethnic societies a complex process compared to other social affiliations such as economic class, political beliefs etc.

We find people usually want and can change but with ethnicity, people usually don’t want or cannot change.

The same can be said with governments; a government can change economic and social condition but it cannot change ethnicity.

The unique nature of ethnicity makes building democracy in a multi-ethnic society a very complex process1.

Nevertheless, to solve ethnicity problems, political thinkers have suggested four conditions which must be present in order to build a successful democratic political system in multi-ethnic societies.

According to Lijphart2, the conditions are: