Ethnische und religiöse Konflikte stellen gegen Ende des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts die Hauptursachen für gewaltsam ausgetragene Konflikte dar. Die Bandbreite der Beiträge verdeutlicht, dass derartige Konflikte weder auf die Dritte Welt beschränkt bleiben noch durch monokausale Erklärungen zu verstehen sind. Aus dem Inhalt: Changing dimensions of difference: Claus D. Kernig: Violence, Conscience and Elites. Fundamentalism and feminism as signs of cultural crisis (7-45); Roland Eckert: Locals and Cosmopolitans. Is there a connection between "mechanical solidarity" and xenophobia? (47-53); Jakob Rösel: The Clash of Civilisation. A critique (55-80). Politicised cultural cleavages: Peter Molt: Ethnicity and Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa (83-99); Jean-Pierre Bastian: Religion, Différenciation Intra-Ethnique et Ethnicité chez les Mayas du Chiapas au Mexique (101-116); Augustus Richard Norton / Farhad Kazemi: The Puzzle of Political Reform in the Middle East (117-142); Sammy Smooha / As'ad Ghanem: Political Islam among the Arabs in Israel (143-173); Bernard Sabella: Christian Palestinians. A modern community in a date with democracy (175-205); Boutros Labaki: Lebanon - A Model for the Management of Diversity. The Lebanisation of internal conflicts and the Yugoslav example (207-212); Munir Bashshur: Lebanon since Ta'if. Educational politics and religion in the nineties (213-216); Kirsten E. Schulze: Ethnicity, Religion and Politics in Northern Ireland. Competing traditions and the problems of a negotiated settlement (217-240). Bridging cleavages. The South African experience revisited: Frederik van Zyl Slabbert: Ideology and Transition in South Africa (265-282); Valerie Møller: Happiness and the Ethnic Marker. The South African case (283-303); Heribert Adam: Antisemitism and Anti-Black Racism. Lessons from Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa (305-321); Robert von Lucius: From "Christian State" to Friendly Co-operation. State, church, religion and the law in South Africa (323-333); Lawrence Schlemmer: Wins and Losses in South Africa's New Democracy. For whom does nation-building work? (349-366). Secular and sacred markers: Jean-Paul Willaime: L'Europe et ses Imaginaires. Confessionalisation et déconfessionalisation des représentations de l'Europe (369-383); Theodor Hanf: The Sacred Marker. Religion, communalism, and nationalism (385-397). Domesticating the beast? Conflicting concepts: Pierre L. van den Berghe: Denationalizing the State. Some anarchistic thoughts (401-408); Dieter Oberndörfer: Integration or Segregation. On the way to the post-national republic? (409-444); Ghia Nodia: Ethnicity and Nationhood (445-456).