Constitutional Engineering On Ethnic Affairs

Ethno-divided society refers to a society in which political organization and mobilization are substantively based on ethnic identities. In a ethno-divided society, political issues and public interaction are being read by the lens of ethnicity, which has posed a substantial threat to the national cohesion and political stability. A Constitutional response to such kind of society would be a big challenge to the Constitution and Constitutionalism itself.Two concepts from political sciences have been proved their validity, relevance and applicability to the above mentioned issue in question. Basically “integration” approach tends to overlook the ethno-diversity in public sphere but respect it in a private sphere; “accommodation” approach however claims that it has been Constitution’s obligation to respect and reflect ethno-diversity in both public and private spheres.With the lens of these two important theoretical framework, we can analyze and evaluate whether a particular constitutional arrangement can keep the politics in ethno-divided society on a “normal track” which has been the ultimate goal of Constitutionalism.Comparative law has also been chosen as one pillar of this research’s system of methodology. In this thesis, four nations has been chosen as the subjects for case study, they are: China, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nigeria and Iraq. Given the Constitutional politics of four nations, and using the overarching framework of “integration and accommodation”, their Constitutional designs and its implications in the positive Constitutional politics would be respectively examined, analyzed and reviewed. “Constitutional address as to ethic identities”,“Constitutional address as to administrative/political division” and “Constitutional design as to power structuring” shall be designed as three basic units of analysis in the research.According to this research’s analysis, Bi H’s Constitutionalism of “rigid accommodation” could be very risky for the fulfillment of a long-term stable Constitutional order in that country. The Bi H’s Constitutional address as to the ethnic identity has been in itself very consistent with the dead approach of the Constitution of the former Yugoslavia. In a accommodational nation of Bi H, with the Constitution, the ethnic identity has been rigidly reflected in political institutions and public spheres, which can lay a risky foundation for the dynamics of ethno-political chaos. Nonetheless, given the current Constitutional designs and arrangements, two elements could be work upon to stabilize the Constitutionalism in Bi H. They are, the interference of international politics and the activism of the judicial power.In Nigeria, its Constitutional design as to ethic affairs is close to integration-oriented. From the year of 1999, this nation has been enjoyed the longest and still continuing stable constitutional politics. This can be seen due to the design of federal power’s strong hold of the natural resource, party system and election system in the current constitution. In spite of this sort of achievement, Nigeria’s history of ethno clashes is still playing a stifling role in the daily politics of Nigeria which could perform negative force to the Constitutionalism in that country.Iraq’s approach could be called “democratic accommodation”. Iraq’s approach of injecting substantive democratic elements into the Constitution has been fruitful. However, in the 2005 Constitutional arrangements,a weak federal power especially in the area of natural resource politics and accordingly strong provisions and districts could be seen as a flaw and thus problem maker for a long-term stable Iraqi Constitutionalism.When it comes to China, according to its Constitution’s texts, Chinese Constitution basically relies upon the approach of accommodation when addressing ethnic affairs. First of all, in the ideological part of the Constitution, a combined identity of “citizen” and “ethnizen” has been forged, and an emphasis on the political status of ethnics has been established; second of all, in the power design part of the constitution, a fundamental system of “national regional autonomy” has reflected people again the accommodation approach the state adopts; third of all, in the bill of rights part of the Constitution, the state chooses to use accommodational design, article 4 for example, to dilute the overall integrational nature of the bill of rights when it comes to ethnic affairs. Affirmative actions are examples of this approach. Positively speaking, China’s accommodation design has met with a number of contradictions in the reality. Given China’s unitary system, not like Bi H, Nigeria and Iraq, the Constitutional design of accommodation has been led within the track of unitary system by which the autonomous power has been effectively controlled by the central power. In a sum, in the power structure of this Constitution, it’s been a restricted accommodation system; and when it goes to right structure, it’s been inclined to an active accommodation system institutionally.