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Not just through abstract argument, but in terms of careful empirical analysis using multivariate statistical technique, Agnieszka Aleksy at--tempts to provide answer to these questions. I will examine the theoretical basis of argument underlying her empirical analysis. I will then turn to the specifics of her findings and look at the policy implications for advanced-industrial and developing polities in the 21st century.
One of the debates the book addresses is whether the strong presence of ethno-linguistic variables tends to hinder economic growth. Probably a majority of contemporary development economists holds this view. They perceive political-cultural diversity as a negative variable that poses roadblocks to the development process by draining resources away from more productive output. On that view, although all economic development is destabilizing, too much instability imperils growth. The findings in this book shed new light on the claim concerning the feasibility of growth in heterogeneous cultural communities, perhaps helping to shift the debate in another direction.
Another debate of contemporary theoretical and policy concern involves explanation for what causes states to fail. The findings in the book are helpful in understanding the place of democratic pluralism as an antidote to secession and to state break-up. Under democratic pluralism—a principle that enables diverse communities to live in equality and relative harmony inside a unified polity—centralization and de-centralization of authority are in balance.
A further debate the empirical results in this book will help settle is that involving innovation and entrepreneurship in the market-place. At the level of the nation-state could there be a link between political-cultural diversity within society and the propensity of that society to invent, to create, and even to establish new institutions, structures, and ventures in both the public and private sectors? Could political-cultural diversity provide the well-spring for creative genius within society and the concomitant social energy necessary for entrepreneurial endeavor? Findings in this book help identify the conditions under which political-cultural diversity is likely to generate new idea within the market-place, and conversely, the conditions under which diversity is not likely to lead to success.