Essay On Ethnic Diversity

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Diversity in a nation-state can be defined as the existence of various ethnic groups who have differences between them but have a shared identity and are residing in a sovereign and internationally recognized territory, governed by a legitimate government under a national set of laws. Conflict refers to the state of disagreement and disharmony between two or more ethnic groups in the same nation-state, who pursue their own interests through actions that damage the others. To avoid conflict, it is important that the different ethnic groups living together in the same nation-state can accept and respect their cultural differences. In this essay, I will be exploring if conflict can be prevented with the implementation of policies by the government,…show more content…
After independence, the Singapore government also implemented a policy of bilingualism and English was assigned as the lingua franca of the Chinese, Malay, Indian and other ethnic minorities, as it is a politically and racially neutral language, instead of the languages of the different ethnic groups. This ensures that there is no dissent and tensions between the different ethnic groups as the government is not biased towards a particular ethnic group and people will be more willing to accept and respect the different cultures in the nation-state. Therefore, conflict can be prevented even though there is the diversity of cultures in the nation-state, as the government is impartial to all ethnic groups and hence, the different ethnic groups are able to live together
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