Examines international cases to understand what causes a society's ethnic conflicts to escalate or de-escalate. This book contains examinations of the political and historical antecedents to conflict around the world, combining them with psychological analyses of group identity and intergroup conflict. In examining the escalation of ethnic conflict, the chapters highlight the critical role of group identification, stressing how group identification becomes enmeshed with threatened economic resources, violent political subcultures, and media manipulation of collective fear. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved