ETHNIC and political identities are not identical, an academic said.
Despite this, the two have been molded into inseparable components of communal politics, Professor Steve Ratuva, of the University of the South Pacific, said.
Speaking at a public forum on identity and belongingness in Fiji, he said the contest for State power continued to be based on ethnic and political identification and consciousness.
"While there is a clamor for a political identity at the national level there is also demand for distinctive ethnic diversity.
"The search for political equilibrium in Fiji's communal democracy has been constantly subverted by indigenous ethno-nationalism, justified by the ideology of paramountcy of Fijian interests," Professor Ratuva said.
The 2000 coup brought to surface a lot of contradictions of communal democracy, he said.
"But the State system has not in itself changed despite the change in ideological and professional focus of the military from being an institution of indigenous rights to one which serves national interest," Professor Ratuva said.
The 2006 coup was an attempt to transform the identity of the State in a fundamental way through institutional reform and a proposed charter, he said.
"How legitimate the approach is and how workable this will be is subject to debate," Professor Ratuva said.