This book is an outcome of South and South-east Asia regional workshop on 'Minorities in Buddhist Polities: Sri Lanka, Thailand and Burma'. It mainly focuses on policy issues. The key theme of the book is the role of religions play in both the exacerbation and amelioration of ethnic conflict.

This volume contains a selection of the papers presented at a South and South-east Asia regional workshop on 'Minorities in Buddhist Polities: Sri Lanka, Thailand and Burma', organised by the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES), Sri Lanka, and the Thai Studies Programme of Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. The tenor for 'Minorities in Buddhist Polities' was set by K. M. de Silva, Executive Director of ICES, in his keynote address. While the workshop would focus attention on policy-orientated issues and adopt a practical approach to ethnic conflict in the Buddhist societies examined, he stressed that religion and its impact on society and politics in these nations would be a central concern.