Poverty Alleviation and Peace Building in Multiethnic Societies: The Need for Multiculturalist Governance in the Philippines*

This paper is about the twin challenges of poverty alleviation and peace building in multiethnic countries. It argues that alleviating poverty and achieving peace require the transformation of their politics and governance in multiethnic societies to become multiculturalist. This means making their governance responsive to the challenges and requirements of cultural diversity. Moreover, focusing on the Philippine situation, the paper stresses the urgency of evolving a cultural diversity-friendly political formula for the government to achieve the twin goals of peace and development, particularly in relation to its ethnocultural minorities like the Bangsa Moro of Southern Philippines.

Part II of this paper discusses the inextricable link between peace and development, while Part III elucidates some of the political, socio-economic, cultural and security determinants of ethnic conflict. Part IV presents some features of governance warranted by the ethnocultural diversity of multiethnic societies, while Part V analyzes the Philippine situation using the multiculturalist governance framework. Part VI provides some concluding statements.