Ethnic politics and democratic resilience –

Latest years have witnessed vital democratic erosion, notably in Japanese Europe. This text means that explanations of democratic backsliding that largely give attention to historic and post-communist experiences on this area fail to notice the hanging and counterintuitive affect of ethnic politics. Ranging from an commentary that democratic apply has deteriorated considerably in Japanese European international locations with out mobilized ethnic minorities, this text argues for the central function that ethnic politics performs in strengthening democracy within the area. In international locations with politically organized ethnic minorities, democratic establishments and practices stay extra resilient. It is because mobilized ethnic minorities give socially rooted voters an virtually existential want for political rights and civil liberties. Lively minority engagement in politics reinforces a constitutionally liberal political pole of competitors and gives a counterweight to the first carriers of democratic regression – intolerant events.