As we come to the end of the millennium, contrary to the more democratic and progressive aspirations of earlier decades, ethnicity continues to define political and social alliances in the struggle for power and survival. Ethnic Diversity and Public Policy, edited by Crawford Young, is a timely collection of articles which address key policies growing out of the paramount need facing nations to deal with this primordial yet potent reality. The articles follow the basic premise underscored by Young -- that ethnic crises reflect profound failures of statecraft and that the state remains the ineluctable locus of policy response, Accordingly, essays in the book, drawing from experiences of many nations, deal with policy prerogatives, which are meant to foster ethnic harmony
