The discussion notes that the world has 7,000 to 8,000 linguistic, ethnic, or religious minorities in 191 countries, fewer than 10 percent of which are ethnically or racially homogeneous. Ethnic identification is part of how people view themselves, but it is also a tool of classification used to define outsiders. Many leaders use an ethnic population's concern for protected interests as a platform to achieve political goals. Countries in which people of various ethnic background share no nationalist spirit experience efforts by separate factions to impose their own views of nationhood on the land; the resulting clash is often violent. Methods societies use to deal with ethnic conflicts include arbitrating ethnic differences, power sharing, Federalism, hegemonic control, manipulation of ethnic conflict, assimilation, secession, mass population transfers, and genocide. Some analysts believe that ethnic violence can be avoided with a threefold policy of prediction, prevention, and intervention. Photographs, map, glossary, index, list of organizations from which to obtain more information, list of 4 suggested further readings, and 49 references