Why is it that west European countries are generally bigger, more stable and more ethnically homogeneous, and East European countries are less so?

Question

I am mainly thinking of UK, France, Germany, Spain as big, but all of them (with the possible exception of Ireland) could be thought of as stable, ie no wars or revolution since WW2.

In: Other

Answer 1

A lot of reasons. Firstly, countries need to learn to manage difference. The more sects, races, classes there are, the more likelihood’s of tension there are, especially if nations are founded on oppression of another sect/race/class, etc. Stability also generally depends on a government not being oppressive to its people. High oppression causes more tensions inside the country. (Simplified, it’s a bit more complicated, but that’s a general rule of thumb.) Why Germany, France, U.K., etc are more ethnically homogenous is not 100% true. They actively suppressed other cultures, historically. Look at Basque and Catalan separatism movements. There is tension.

This ignores the fact that the West also is more economically developed in many aspects, because you haven’t asked about economic development haha.

The bigger comment isn’t true.