It is hardly surprising that the nation-state model so often fails – there have been about 200 civil wars since 1960.

民族国家模式常常会走向衰败，这不足为奇——自1960年以来已经发生了大约200次内战。

However, there are plenty of examples of nation states that work well despite being made up of different groups, such as Singapore, Malaysia and Tanzania, or nations created from global migrants like Australia, Canada and the US.

然而，无数例子也表明，各个民族国家仍可以良好运行，虽然它们是由不同的群体组成的，比如，新加坡、马来西亚和坦桑尼亚，或澳大利亚、加拿大和美国等由全球移民创建的国家。

To some degree, all nation states have been formed from a mixture of groups.

在某种程度上，所有民族国家都是由各种群体组成的。

When nation states falter or fail, the problem is not diversity itself, but not enough official inclusiveness – equity in the eyes of the state, regardless of which other groups a person belongs to.

当民族国家走向衰败或消亡时，问题不在于多样性本身，而在于官方缺失包容性(不管个人属于哪个群体，国家都会公平对待)。

An insecure government allied to a specific group, which it favours over others, breeds discontent and pitches one group against others – this results in people falling back on trusted alliances based on kinship, rather.

一个缺乏安全感的政府与一个特定的群体结盟，这会导致政府更偏袒这一群体而非其他群体，会滋生不满，会让一个群体与其他群体产生对立--这会导致人们求助于基于亲属关系的可信联盟。

A democracy with a mandate of official inclusiveness from its people is generally more stable – but it needs underpinning by a complex bureaucracy.

一个要求官方对民众包容的民主国家会更稳定，但这个民主国家需要一个复杂的官僚制度来支撑。

Nations have navigated this in various ways, for example, devolving power to local communities, giving them voice and agency over their own affairs within the nation state (as is the case in Canada, or Switzerland’s cantons).

各国通过各种方式解决了这一问题，例如，将权力下放给地方社区，赋予他们在民族国家内部处理自己事务的发言权和代理权(如加拿大或瑞士的行政区)。

By embracing multiple groups, languages and cultures as equally legitimate, a country like Tanzania can function as a national mosaic of at least 100 different ethnic groups and languages.

通过接纳不同的族群、语言和文化，并使其具有同等的合法性，像坦桑尼亚这样的国家可以成为一个至少拥有100个民族和语言的多样性国家。

In Singapore, which has consciously pursued an integrated multi-ethnic population, at least one-fifth of marriages are interracial.

在新加坡，至少五分之一的婚姻是跨种族的，该国曾有意识地追求融合的多民族人口。

Unjust hierarchies between groups make this harder, particularly when imposed on a majority by a minority.

群体之间不公正的等级制度使这一点变得更加困难，特别是当这是由少数人强加给多数人时。

In April 2021, Governor Kristi Noem tweeted: “South Dakota won’t be taking any illegal immigrants that the Biden administration wants to relocate. My message to illegal immigrants … call me when you’re an American.”

2021年4月，州长克里斯蒂·诺姆在推特上说:“南达科他州不会接收拜登政府希望安置的任何非法移民。我给非法移民的信息是，当你是美国人的时候再叫我。”