Ethnic invention: A new principle for institutional design in ethnically divided democracies

Is it a good idea for Rwanda, with its history of violence between Hutus and Tutsis, to stop classifying citizens by ethnicity in its census? Is it appropriate for Nigeria, with its history of ethnic violence, to have a two-party instead of a multiparty system? Is Iraq, with its conflicts between Shias, Sunnis and Kurds, better off with a proportional rather than a first-past-the-post electoral system? Is it appropriate for the United States, with its history of racial conflict between a white majority and an African American minority, to institutionalize majority-minority electoral districts? Should Sri Lanka, with its long-standing civil war between Sinhalas and Tamils, recreate itself as a federal state?.