Terrence Cook's book in the main focuses on ethnic minority policy strategies across the globe. The author distinguishes three main policy modes regarding ethnic relations: separation, assimilation, or accommodation. The book revolves around a consideration of these three main modes and two subtypes of each policy option—for example, assimilation as a strategy of a stronger ethnic group and assimilation when initiated by a weaker minority group, usually a minority. In so doing, he presents a fairly exhaustive catalog of global ethnic relations.

In the introductory chapter, Cook briefly mentions several goals for this work: 1) presenting “a clear classification of the kinds of policy strategies” pursued by dominant and minority ethnic groups, noting that “good classification is especially needed to put this policy domain into clear comparative perspective” (p. xviii); 2) discussing three principal directions of policy as separation, assimilation, and accommodation, each distinguished by sponsorship by either the strong or the weak (pursued in Chapters 1 through 6); and 3) presenting “fresh ideas about how to get out of dangerous games of ethnic conflict” (p. xxi) (explored in Chapters 7 and 8). Cook himself maintains that his work's primary contribution is analytical; the reader will find, however, that in fact, the bulk of the book is more descriptive than analytical. The book suffers both from the absence of a logical explanatory framework and a lack of systematic social science analysis, and of the author's three stated goals, only the discussion of policy directions is adequately accomplished.

The weaknesses are apparent from the outset. The introductory chapter involves no discussion of any existing literature on ethnic minority policies to frame the author's analysis. Rather, in the opening pages, Cook presents a rather opaque discussion of human psychology, the purpose of which is unclear in the context of the large work. This psychological discussion is not referred to again in the book. Beyond briefly stated intentions, the introductory chapter does not include a clear and thorough elaboration of the author's thesis, the book's format, or the study's methodology. The monograph also suffers from his failure to provide at the end a systematic or comprehensive summary of the arguments made in the discussion of the six policy models, or a more generalized overview of trends observed.

As noted, six of the substantive chapters focus on specific ethnic minority policy strategies. These chapters suffer from the absence of both introductory and concluding comments and the lack of an overall explanatory framework. Each instead reads like a descriptive catalog of one particular ethnic policy strategy. Some readers may find it useful to be able to consider the cases briefly discussed in each of the six chapters in the aggregate, especially since the existing literature (which is not considered by the author in any way) tends to treat ethnic conflicts as individual case studies, rather than in a systematically comparative fashion. However, the case discussions both within and across the chapters vary in depth and detail; some are multiple pages long, others no more than three sentences (in one chapter there is a discussion of 28 secessionist movements, in another just a brief mention of numerous examples). This variation limits the reader's ability to reach conclusions across the cases and chapters; the analysis would have been stronger had Cook employed a common framework within and across his examination of these policy strategies. Further, he fails at the end of each chapter to analyze any potential relationship or draw any conclusions across the examples discussed. Thus, although the examples do illustrate the pattern on which he is focusing (e.g., “separating as regional autonomy or secession,” or a “policy of aggressive and collective assimilation”) and the reader can intuitively make some connections across the cases, Cook himself never systematically draws conclusions or makes his own argument about the situations described. Hence, at the conclusion of these six chapters, we are no more able to explain why these situations occur, where they are most likely, or how prevent them then when we began the book.

In the final two chapters, the author makes a dramatic departure from the previous six and presents two hypothetical discussions of ethnic conflict resolution via the development of game theoretic models. In Chapter 7, he considers the Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan from the perspective of a zero-sum game. In Chapter 8, he attempts to construct a more generalized model, a transformational or transgenic game theory, as he calls it, as a means for resolving ethnic conflicts. Although the discussion here is argued to be intended for the general reader, its logic is difficult to follow, and its significance relative to the book overall is hard to discern. These two chapters catch the reader off guard. Indeed, there is no explicit reference to any of the six models presented in the earlier chapters.

It is not immediately apparent who will find this monograph most useful. The discussion of ethnic minority policy strategies is not systematic, and there is no attempt to draw meaningful explanatory conclusions in reference to it. The strategy discussions are, however, interesting because there is some attention paid to lesser-known ethnic conflicts and because the coverage is generally comprehensive in a global sense. In this regard, those seeking to develop a broad sense of the kinds of ethnic policies pursued by dominant and minority ethnic groups across the globe may find this work a useful starting point. However, upon reaching the final pages of Separation, Assimilation or Accommodation, the reader is left with little of substantive value. Depending on their expertise, they may have some greater sense of the range of ethnic conflict policies witnessed around the globe, both historically and contemporaneously. But regardless of their expertise, they will have found no means for tying these policies together or conclusions to embrace (or disagree with). Overall, there is simply too little holding the individual parts of this book together, and ultimately it is difficult to discern a central argument in Cook's work. Those interested in a theoretically based and systematically comparative analysis of ethnic minority policies will find other volumes better suited to their purposes.