|Ethnicity and Power in the Contemporary World (UNU, 1996, 298
pages)| One of the most frequently voiced solutions to ethnic
conflict, at least where there is some degree of territorial
separation among competing groups, is to grant "autonomy" to the
minority group. As will be seen, autonomy can include a wide
range of political, economic, and other powers. However, in
order to assess what degree of power should be devolved in a
particular situation, one must focus on the underlying goal that
creating autonomous structures is designed to serve. On a
continuum of political power, many analysts would place autonomy
higher than the ability to protect minority rights but lower
than the independent statehood which may result from the
exercise of a people's right to self-determination. This is
probably accurate, although it should be remembered that
autonomy is not a term of art in international law, and that the
term has been used to describe a plethora of different
arrangements.1 Most ethnic conflicts grow out of