Discuss The Dangers Of Multiculturalism

In our increasingly globalised society, the world seems to have become a lot smaller. Mankind, as a species has become interconnected. This has brought about the ability travel and migrate more freely, with this we find ourselves in an increasingly multicultural world. However this multiculturalism raises some interesting questions about how Ethnic Diversity effects Democracy. This essay will address these questions as well as the benefits and dangers of a Multicultural state, using Rwanda and Singapore as case studies. Rwanda will highlight the Dangers of a Bi polar ethnic grouping within a country and how ethnic tensions can severely hinder Democracy and the countries unity. Singapore will highlight the success that can be achieved even within …show more content…
The problem with multi-ethnic parties is that because they refuse to pick a side between the major ‘ethnic groups’, they often end up with a very small voter base and thus are unlikely to get elected. In some countries the Ethnic tension is so historically entrenched that it becomes hard if not impossible to find a middle ground. People are polarized to their respective Ethnic parties making it harder for those multi-ethnic parties to gain popular support. Once the situation reaches this point it completely undermines democracy and is seen as a, “Widespread failure of governments to induce a substantial grouping of their citizenry to transfer their primary loyalty from human groupings to the state.” A successful multicultural country needs to be able to move past its Ethnic groupings and gain a sense of nationalism and most importantly try to become …show more content…
Constructivist theory is built on the idea of identity and image, how states see themselves and how the world perceives the state. However, “The debate is more concerned today with the extent to which the state action is influenced by structure.” However many fail to see that these questions are one and the same. The society is made up of socially constructed ethnic groups, this is how the structure of society is organised. These ethnic groups are create by people who identify with others who are seen to be similar to them. As this essay has discussed when there is an imbalance of power among the ethnic groups within a country there are major problems that undermine any attempt at democracy. However if the country rallies behind its country across ethnic groupings through nationalism, then they begin to identify with each other as a nation rather than individual ethnic groupings. Constructivist theorists view this as a change in national identity that can greatly benefit a country. Once the people of a country begin to identify strongly as a nation there will be significantly less internal