Ethnic Groups in Conflict

Ethnologue: Languages of the World

Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the legacy of late colonialism

time, as sub-Saharan Africa is bogged down with too many crises, further exacerbated by the AIDS epidemic. While Englebert's solution might not solve all of Africa's problems, it should serve as a catalyst for further studies on both a local and a continental level, and also on the part of the World Bank, the IMF, and Western development agencies that design programs for African states. It is a must read for all Africans who seek a better continent, for students of African politics, decision-makers, and development specialists of all genres. Osaore Aideyan Claremont Graduate University Claremont, California

Jeffrey Herbst. States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000. 272 pp. Figures. Maps. Tables. Index. $17.95. Paper.

Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa

This paper studies the labor market consequences of ethnic politics in African democracies. We combine geo-referenced data from 15 countries, 32 parliamentary elections, 62 political parties, 243 ethnic groups, 2,200 electoral constituencies, and 400,000 individuals. We implement a regression discontinuity design that compares individuals from ethnicities connected to parties at the margin of electing a local representative in the national parliament. We find that having a local ethnic politician in parliament increases the likelihood of being employed by 2-3 percentage points. We hypothesize that this effect originates from strategic interactions between ethnic politicians and traditional leaders, the latter retaining the power to allocate land and agricultural jobs in exchange for votes. The available evidence supports this hypothesis. First, the employment effect is concentrated in the historical homelands of ethnicities with strong pre-colonial institutions. Second, individuals from connected ethnicities are more likely to be employed in agriculture, and in those countries where customary land tenure is officially recognized by national legislation. Third, they are also more likely to identify traditional leaders as partisan, and as being mainly responsible for the allocation of land. Evidence shows that ethnic politics shapes the distribution of productive resources across sectors and ethnic groups.

The Employment Effects of Ethnic Politics

Landmine contamination affects the lives of millions in many conflict-ridden countries long after the cessation of hostilities. Yet, little research exists on its impact on post-conflict recovery. In this study, we explore the economic consequences of landmine clearance in Mozambique, the only country that has moved from "heavily-contaminated" in 1992 to "mine-free" status in 2015. First, we compile a dataset detailing the evolution of clearance, collecting thousands of reports from the numerous demining actors. Second, we exploit the timing of demining to assess its impact on local economic activity, as reflected in satellite images of light density at night. The analysis reveals a moderate positive association that masks sizeable heterogeneity. Economic activity responds strongly to clearance of the transportation network, trade hubs, and more populous areas, while the demining-development association is weak in rural areas of low population density. Third, recognizing that landmine removal recon figured the accessibility to the transportation infrastructure, we apply a "market-access" approach to quantify both its direct and indirect effects. The market-access estimates reveal substantial improvements on aggregate economic activity. The market-access benefits of demining are also present in localities without any contamination. Fourth, counterfactual policy simulations project considerable gains had the fragmented process of clearance in Mozambique been centrally coordinated, prioritizing clearance of the colonial transportation routes.

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Landmines and spatial development.

This paper shows that ethnic diversity within the disenfranchised majority matters for the incidence of violence during democratization. We study the relationship between ethnicity and conflict in South Africa during the fall of apartheid. Migration flows following the implementation and repeal of apartheid segregation laws induce cross-sectional and time variation in the ethnic composition of districts. Using Census data from the years before and after democratization, we compare the evolution of conflict across districts experiencing differential changes in ethnic composition. We find that ethnic diversity and inequality within the black majority both correlate strongly and positively with the incidence of armed confrontations between black-dominated groups. Results suggest that during democratic transitions ethnic markers can become a salient technology to separate individuals into well-identified groups and mobilize them for political violence.

/pdf/ethnicity-and-violence-during-democratic-transitions-38u9osftql.pdf

Ethnicity and Violence During Democratic Transitions: Evidence from South Africa

We investigate the epidemiological origins of ethnic diversity and its persistence. First, we conceptualize the role of malaria for the incentives to voluntary isolation in a Malthusian environment. The theory predicts that interactions in multiple geographically clustered groups with high sexual endogamy allowed limiting disease prevalence and increasing group fitness in pre-modern populations exposed to malaria. Second, using disaggregate level data, we document the hitherto unexplored and robust role of malaria for pre-colonial, historical and contemporaneous ethnic diversity in Africa. Third, falsification tests based on malaria epidemiology and history further allow us to validate the specific predictions of the model. No effect can be detected for other placebo vector-borne diseases. Malaria is a main driver of pre-colonial ethnic diversity in Africa but not in the Americas, where the pathogen was absent before European colonization. Fourth, the effect of ancestral malaria on endogamic cultures is the main predicted channel for the persistence of African ethnicities. Exploiting within village variation across 18 African countries, we find that ancestral malaria, but not malaria today, still affects the differential persistence of ethnicities through its legacy of active endogamic cultures.

Bite and Divide: Malaria and Ethnolinguistic Diversity

This paper explores the micro-foundations of the trade-conflict nexus. We focus on the reduction of tariffs on agricultural imports from South countries to North countries as resulting from Preferential Trade Agreements. We combine the variation in agricultural tariffs over time with differences in crop suitability across districts within South countries. Our analysis covers 27 South countries and all their PTAs signed with major North countries between 1995 and 2014. Our approach rests upon the observation that differences in agro-climatic conditions within the country generate exogenous variation in suitability to produce different crops. Using 9km x 9km cells as unit of observations, we test if the North-South trade liberalization agreement affect levels of political violence and instability differentially in those districts that are more suitable to produce liberalized crops. We find robust evidence that in those cells, PTAs increase economic output and political violence, in line with the rapacity effect mechanism.

Giorgio Chiovelli

Papers

The Employment Effects of Ethnic Politics

Landmines and spatial development.

Ethnicity and Violence During Democratic Transitions: Evidence from South Africa

Bite and Divide: Malaria and Ethnolinguistic Diversity

Trade liberalization and political violence : evidence from North-South preferential trade agreements