Forms of government and ethnic conflicts: The problem of interconnection and its solution in political science

Abstract

Prevention and ethnic conflicts resolution is an urgent task both at the level of theory and political practice. To solve it, institutional measures are used, including the design of a form of government. The purpose of the article is to determine the state of study of the problem of the relationship between forms of government and ethnic conflicts, mainly in contemporary foreign political science. The author proceeds from the idea that the form of government as an institutional structure affects the emergence, flow, and termination of ethnic conflicts, but at the same time it should be considered as one of the variables along with the electoral system and form of government. The article notes the contradictory nature of the theoretical positions of supporters of different approaches — consociationalism centripetalism and power-dividing approach. The most common point of view that a parliamentary system is more suitable for a multi-ethnic society is criticized. The author emphasizes the importance of conscious design of forms of government, aimed at abandoning the “pure” presidential and parliamentary systems and the creation of atypical institutions, which are given some attention in the article. Empirical studies using statistical methods have been carried out in recent years to identify the relationship between forms of government and ethnic conflicts. The author evaluates them and introduces the reader to the results of his own research using correlation and regression analysis. He concludes that the hypothesis about the influence of the form of government on ethnic conflicts requires further empirical testing on a large array of cases over a long period of time. At the end of the article, an analysis is given of the main methodological problems that researchers face when conducting a comparative study of ethnic conflicts and their relationship with political institutions. The author concludes that the problem of the relationship between forms of government and ethnic conflicts has not yet been resolved in political science.