Ethnic nationalism is one of the main causes of the present plight of minorities and the increasing flow of refugees around the world. This kind of nationalism emerges from demotic 'vertical' ethnies which are forged by intelligentsias into ethnic nations through vernacular mobilization of the masses. By redefining, re-educating and regenerating the ethnie and its members, ethnic nationalists politicize its culture and are drawn into purifying the community of 'alien' elements, which in turn may lead to the expulsion and even the extermination of minorities, the 'outsider within'. Only by some attenuation of ethnic nationalism, can minorities be protected.
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Anthony D. Smith (1994) studied this question.