Augustus
…
Wouldn't it be a good idea, whenever there is a seemingly unsolvable conflict, to just draw a line in the sand and have one set of rules on this side and another on the other side?
The main problem with many areas of governance is not corruption, incompetence or malevolence but scale.
Devolving power to the lowest possible level would help in many areas from democratic legitimacy, reducing political alienation, reduced tribalism, greater accountability, smaller problems that are easier to solve, etc.
People always ask the wrong question: "How can we make everyone like and respect each other?" rather than the more realistic "How can we ensure peaceful coexistence in a world full of people we neither like nor respect?"
In general we don't care too much about 'the other' unless we fear the other messing with our way of life - good fences make for good neighbours.
You might be interested in this
Good Fences: The Importance of Setting Boundaries for Peaceful Coexistence
We consider the conditions of peace and violence among ethnic groups, testing a theory designed to predict the locations of violence and interventions that can promote peace. Characterizing the model's success in predicting peace requires examples where peace prevails despite diversity. Switzerland is recognized as a country of peace, stability and prosperity. This is surprising because of its linguistic and religious diversity that in other parts of the world lead to conflict and violence. Here we analyze how peaceful stability is maintained. Our analysis shows that peace does not depend on integrated coexistence, but rather on well defined topographical and political boundaries separating groups, allowing for partial autonomy within a single country. In Switzerland, mountains and lakes are an important part of the boundaries between sharply defined linguistic areas. Political canton and circle (sub-canton) boundaries often separate religious groups. Where such boundaries do not appear to be sufficient, we find that specific aspects of the population distribution guarantee either sufficient separation or sufficient mixing to inhibit intergroup violence according to the quantitative theory of conflict. In exactly one region, a porous mountain range does not adequately separate linguistic groups and that region has experienced significant violent conflict, leading to the recent creation of the canton of Jura. Our analysis supports the hypothesis that violence between groups can be inhibited by physical and political boundaries. A similar analysis of the area of the former Yugoslavia shows that during widespread ethnic violence existing political boundaries did not coincide with the boundaries of distinct groups, but peace prevailed in specific areas where they did coincide. The success of peace in Switzerland may serve as a model to resolve conflict in other ethnically diverse countries and regions of the world.
Good Fences: The Importance of Setting Boundaries for Peaceful Coexistence