Drawing material from dozens of divided societies, Donald L. Horowitz constructs his theory of ethnic conflict, relating ethnic affiliations to kinship and intergroup relations to the fear of domination. A groundbreaking work when it was published in 1985, the book remains an original and powerfully argued comparative analysis of one of the most important forces in the contemporary world.

Donald L. Horowitz is the James B. Duke professor of Law and Political Science at Duke University. He is also the author of A Democratic South Africa? Constitutional Engineering in a Divided Society (California, 1991), which won the Ralph Bunche Prize of the American Political Science Association, and coeditor of Immigrants in Two Democracies: French and American Experience (1992).

"Ethnic Groups in Conflict is a massive and important study. . . [In this] major and definitive work. . . Horowitz argues his ethnic interpretation of the difficulties of developing countries so strongly that it will have to be addressed by all who study ethnic conflict or the developing world."—Nathan Glazer, Columbia Law Review

"Offers a great deal of constructive advice backed by numerous examples--all worth pondering by those who try to engineer peace and democracy in divided societies."—Arend Lijphart, New York Times