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 suggests that: (1) ethnically homogeneous states have: never been common; (2) ethnicity has always been fluid with respect to identity, boundaries, cultural content, and membership; (3) ethnic processes cannot be understood without careful consideration of their interstate, or world-systemic, context; (3,) contemporary ethnic conflicts have contemporary roots; (5) the differences between the contemporary and ancient worlds need further study; (7) the origin of the ideal of tl:le ethnically homogeneous state and shifts in ethnic processes in tl:ie twentieth century lack adequate explanation.