Negotiation of sustainable forms of governance in a cross cultural environment

: a focus on process

Abstract

The nation state has proved to be a useful structure of governance for people with a common culture where a common understanding of rules and requirements of the society assists in achievement and maintenance of the credibility and legitimacy of the institutions of government. However, in countries where both an indigenous culture and a dominant, immigrant culture must be housed, the sustainability of the state depends on the achievement of a form of governance considered legitimate and credible by both the indigenous people and those of the dominant culture. Establishment of sustainable structures of governance in such situations necessarily requires either domination of one culture by the other sufficient to require assimilation or the achievement of arrangements acceptable to both cultures through some form of negotiation...

Date of Award	Feb 1998
Original language	English