Democratization in Eastern Europe prompted warnings about the risks of the
process for the many multi-ethnic countries of the region. Yet, the Yugoslav
tragedy remains the exception rather than the rule in understanding interethnic
relations. This work analyzes post-communist Romania and Slovakia, two
multi-ethnic countries that have steered clear of interethnic violence despite
the absence of institutions specially designed to manage interethnic relations,
despite the exclusion of ethnic minorities from government and despite
quasi-majoritarian political environments. In the two studied...