Rules That Matter: Political Institutions and the Diversity-Conflict Nexus

Introduction and Conclusion Many political studies on civil warfare have focused on the institutional role in societies of ethnic division. "Constitutional technicians" assert specific rules and institutional arrangements such as proportional representation or decentralization to help divide the society and maintain peace (Lijphart 1977, 1999; Fearon / Laitin 2003; Reynal-Querol 2005), they only reflect the parting lines in these societies (Lipset / Rokkan 1967; Collier / Hoeffler 2004).

Politics is the creation, maintenance, and revision of social norms or regulations. Politics as a solution to conflict is aimed at establishing social order, but today's order is based on law. It can not be denied that religion and other ancient institutions have lost their central role as a source of order. It is now a law and builds institutions as an obvious order. Modern countries and international organizations rely on the validity and effectiveness of the law to satisfy the people's demand for domestic and international peace. Therefore, politics in a broad sense means dispute settlement by creating, maintaining and revising social norms and regulations.

There may be contradiction between the two. But this is not the only problem. The requirement of the rule of law outweighs the other principles and objectives that a free state may pursue, and the practices of other institutions characterized by a free society. More specifically, liberal states and other liberal systems are subject to rule of law; if a free political or liberal system violates the rule of law, in particular the principle of equality, governance Is not a political or institutional practice but a rule of law. In fact, this implies that the rule of law is the foundation of free law and politics.

The complete concept of the rule of law is to first clarify the canonical source of the liberal political system itself and then clarify the proper relationship between the rule of law and the system of other liberal politics and social identity I have to do. Political liberalism, including the rule of law, depends on what is called philosophical liberalism. The principle accepted by free society is that only individuals can count, everyone is equal, and everyone is just because they are human beings. These principles constituting the legal and political base of liberalism are provided by philosophical liberalism whose burden is the fundamental characteristic of human condition. In other words, our political arrangements, including the source of the rule of law, are not in the arrangement itself but in a broader perspective on the meaning of being a person.