The status of language is a critical issue in many ethnically divided states. Language policy is one method by which governments attempt to manage ethnic conflict. While these policies are constrained by societal pressures, they tend to be instrumental to elite preferences for assimilationist or pluralistic strategies for achieving political community. This article evaluates a variety of specific language policies in terms of their contribution to this goal. While their effectiveness tends to be highly contingent, official unilingualism, where practicable, seems more likely than multilingualism to lead eventually to political community.
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