THE EFFECTS OF INCORPORATION INTO WORLD-SYSTEMS ON ETHNIC-PROCESSES -LESSONS FROM THE ANCIENT-WORLD FOR THE CONTEMPORARY-WORLD

This article discusses how incorporation into a world-system (ancient or contemporary) can create, transform, or destroy ethnic groups. It s uggests that: (1) ethnically homogeneous states have: never been commo n; (2) ethnicity has always been fluid with respect to identity, bound aries, cultural content, and membership; (3) ethnic processes cannot b e understood without careful consideration of their interstate, or wor ld-systemic, context; (3,) contemporary ethnic conflicts have contempo rary roots; (5) the differences between the contemporary and ancient w orlds need further study; (7) the origin of the ideal of tl:le ethnica lly homogeneous state and shifts in ethnic processes in tl:ie twentiet h century lack adequate explanation.