It is increasingly clear that ethnicity and religion are among the most potent mobilizing forces in societies. This is exacerbated in societies in which ethnicity and religion mark the fault lines between the haves and the have-nots, the powerful and the powerless, those who have hope and those who despair. In the past few months, this has been graphically illustrated by the turbulence in the Middle East – but, as this annual review by Minority Rights Group International shows, these tensions are commonplace around the world. However, it is important to emphasize that ethnic or religious diversity alone is neither a precondition for nor a determinant of violent conflict. The existence of minority groups in what may be perceived to be an otherwise homogeneous society is not an inherent cause of conflict.