Unity accommodation and contestation

What this covers

Unity is an institutional and social achievement, not the absence of difference. It is built through shared constitutional rules, democratic participation, federal and linguistic accommodation, mobility, exchange and everyday interdependence. Contestation emerges when groups dispute recognition, resources, representation or autonomy; it can deepen democracy when channelled through legitimate institutions, but can also become exclusionary or violent. Compare assimilation, isolation and integration as responses to difference, and evaluate who defines the mainstream, which rights are protected and how negotiated arrangements change over time.