Ethnic Diversity and Social Conflict in South, East and Southeast Asia: Ethnopolitics in Sri Lanka, Malaysia and China

Abstract

The issue of ethnopolitics and the problem of institutionalized racism have been ground deep into the socioracial and socio-territorial fabric of Sri Lanka, Malaysia and China. To analyze this, the paper first unpacks the concepts of institutions, racism, ethnoterritoriality and ethnoregionalism, and examines how they relate to the origins of institutionalized racism and central vs. peripheral nationalism within these countries. Next, the paper describes the different forms in which the said ethnopolitics and institutionalized racism manifest in Sri Lanka, Malaysia and China, and makes several important observations in terms of the intensity of ethnopolitics and institutionalized racism within these countries as well as the corresponding reaction of their respective minority groups. Lastly, two potential causes behind these observations, namely, geopolitics and economic growth will also be evaluated.

Keywords: institutions, racism, institutionalized racism, ethnopolitics, ethnoterritoriality, ethnoregionalism, central vs. peripheral nationalism, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, China

JEL Classification: H11, H12, J15, Z13