The
objectives of this project were to explore the uses
of the federal mechanism in resolving conflict within
states. It was decided that the programme should not
adopt a rigid and restrictive definition of the term
"Federalism" for the purposes of research,
but that the focus of the programme should be thematic.
Accordingly, the success or failure of federalism in
resolving ethnic conflict, the politics of ethnicity,
the nature of the protection federalism offers minorities,
the impact of global and regional markets on federal
structures, the role of the judiciary and alternative
conflict resolution mechanisms and the conformity of
national/provincial norms to international standards
are the issues that will be addressed in the form of
papers.
The
Advisory Committee consisting of Charles Taylor, McGill
University, Yash Ghai, University of Hong Kong, Chaoloka
Beyani, Oxford University, Neelan Tiruchelvam, ICES,
Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Centre for Policy Alternatives,
and Rohan Edrisinghe, University of Colombo, formulated
the conceptual framework and methodology of the project.
This
project was successfully concluded. Eleven papers were
commissioned as part of the project on ethnicity and
federalism. These papers were edited by Prof. Yash Ghai,
University of Hong Kong, under the title Autonomy
and Ethnicity: Negotiating Competing Claims in Mutiethnic
States, will be published by Cambridge University
Press, U. K.
The
papers examined the situation of ethnicity and federalism
in China, Hong Kong, Cyprus, India, Spain, Ethiopia
and Eritrea, Sri Lanka, Canada, South Africa, Scotland,
Wales and Ireland, CIS and Bosnia. |
