Tell thousand cultures, a single civilization

The role of ethnicity and culture in local conflicts is examined with speci al reference to the former Yugoslavia. An examination of the literature on conflict resolution is offered, leading to a discussion of the probability of numerous regional conflicts in the coming century. The role of an overar ching civilization in preventing their expansion into a general war is emph asized, and finally, the example of the European Union is invoked to exempl ify the promise of conflict resolution through pursuit of common programs f or the future, with no reference to the quarrels of the past.