Politics

The aim of this series is to stimulate debate on non-proliferation and disarmament in the current international context, where the presence and the spread of weapons of mass destruction continue to pose a serious threat to world peace and security. The series seeks to disseminate the best scholarship by established experts and promote the research of outstanding scholars at the initial stages of their careers. The series takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of non-proliferation and disarmament, featuring work from history to political science and from law to science and technology, as well as work that bridges these and other related fields. It includes textbooks, research-based monographs, and edited volumes. All publications undergo rigorous peer-review based on an initial screening by the editors and anonymous refereeing by independent experts.

Towards the end of the twentieth century ethnic conflict became the predominant expression of violent conflict. Studies on the causes, genesis, course and regulation of conflict are a necessary prerequisite for determining possibilities of prevention. If ethnic groups are simultaneously religious groups, conflicts between them are particularly unforgiving and bitter. On the other hand, religiously motivated tolerance can also reduce the propensity for violence. For this reason, it appears appropriate to examine whether and how religious teachings shape religiosity and, hence, conflict behaviour. A precondition for a lasting regulation of ethnic conflict is the agreement of majorities of all the population groups affected – and hence, in the final analysis, democracy. The studies in this series analyse the conditionalities of ethnic and ethno-religious conflicts in different countries with the focus on empirical investigations of attitudes to ethnicity, religion and democracy that can serve as the basis of comparative research.