Changes

==Continuity in Multiculturalism==

With this given history in the Near East, and unlike Europe, multicultural empires persisted long after the fall of Rome and, in fact, continued until the fall of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. However, the rise of nationalism in the 19th-20th centuries and creation of modern nation states began to create new realities and opportunities for individuals that have, to some extent, led to the rise of some of the current conflicts in the Near East. Cultural groups now experienced opportunities to express their own beliefs and power more clearly as they were given more opportunities to assert themselves. In the 20th and 21st century, the conflicts in the Near East perhaps reflect this great, long-term conflict that is about the identity of the various regions within the Near East. Regardless of this case, what this shows is that more recent history does not necessarily reflect a historical pattern, where current conflicts between ethnic groups are more likely reflecting new power realities that did not translate to past societies in the region. <ref>For information on how nationalism shaped the more modern Near East, see: Schumann, Christoph, ed. 2010. Nationalism and Liberal Thought in the Arab East: Ideology and Practice. SOAS/Routledge Studies on the Middle East 10. London ; New York: Routledge.</ref>