Resolving Centre-State Conflicts In the sphere of centre-state relations what we have now is an altogether new hall game. If there are lessons from the past they come from the way the 'exceptions' sector has been handled or rather mishandled one, that civilised governance must rely more on democratic dialogue than on authoritarian militarism; and, second, that conflict in plural polities must he resolved without flinching from exceptional settlements that respect the aspirations of deeply troubled groups.