This edited book on constructive ethnicity argues that the modernizing state system in developing countries unduly denies a legitimate place to the linguistic and ethnic groups who, despite habitual attachment to ethnic groups, might meaningfully help the slow process of state building. Here ethnicity is characterized as positive, and as such, moral and pragmatic. Despite ethnicity's natural inclination to polarization, a national community can be reconstructed, as is exemplified by recent events in Rwanda, Cyprus, India, Palestine, and China.