Past Event

Peaceful Resolution of Ethnic Tension

Historical perspective on ethnic peace is rarely news and often enigmatic. Why did the diverse ethnic population of Marseille remain calm as riots spread through France in 2005? In this and other cases there is a common ingredient: a willingness to confront and deal fairly with a tangled history. For example, Flensburg, once an epicenter of a notorious German-Danish struggle, is now an example of trading land for peace. Other cases to be included in this seminar talk are Australia, Russia, and Queens, NY.

Karl Meyer and Shareen Brysac are co-authors of Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Mastery in Central Asia (1999); and Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East (2008). Their most recent book, just published, is Pax Ethnica: Where and How Diversity Succeeds (2013). Meyer served on the New York Times editorial board and previously was a foreign correspondent and editorial writer for the Washington Post. Brysac, a prize-winning documentary producer for CBS News, is author of Resisting Hitler: Mildred Fish Harnack and the Red Orchestra (2002).

Woodrow Wilson Center, 6th Floor Moynihan Boardroom 
Ronald Reagan Building, Federal Triangle Metro Stop
Reservations requested because of limited seating:
HAPP@wilsoncenter.org or 202-691-4166


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History and Public Policy Program

A leader in making key foreign policy records accessible and fostering informed scholarship, analysis, and discussion on international affairs, past and present.   Read more

History and Public Policy Program