Where major ethnic or regional cleavages exist that are territorially based, the relationship is by now self-evident and axiomatic: The absence of provisions for devolution and decentralization of power, expecially in the context of ethnoregional disparities, feeds ethnic insecurity, violent conflict, and even secessionist pressures. … In deeply divided societies, meaningful devolution of power – typically through federalism – is an indispensable instrument for managing and reducing conflict.

Federalism has become a very popular “solution” for problems of ethnic conflict in public discourse. In fact, ethnic federations are among the most difficult of all to sustain and are least likely to survive because constituent units based on ethnic nationalisms normally do not want to merge into the kind of tight-knit units necessary for federation.