Ethnic conflict: the role of ethnic representation

Ethnic conflict without ethnic groups: a study

Despite growing awareness of the limitations of group-level analyses in ethnic studies, research on ethnic conflict has paid virtually no systematic attention to variation at the individual or micro level. Addressing that gap, the present paper draws upon data from interviews conducted with members of two broadly-defined categories recently arrived in the Republic of Ireland, Muslims and Nigeri...

DELEGITIMIZING MULTICULTURALISM: The Role of Cultural Elites in Ethnic Conflict

During the wars of Yugoslav succession, nationalists on all sides maintained that it was impossible for different national groups to live together in harmony in a democratic society. They spoke of “age-old hatreds,” pointing to an historical landscape littered with international conflicts, civil wars, rebellions, or individual acts of violence between the region’s national and ethnic groups. Mo...

Political representation and ethnic conflict in new democracies

This paper is an exploratory analysis of the efficacy of parliamentary representation as a means to moderate ethnic conflict in new democracies. We agree with many others that the interests of an ethnic minority group are better protected when the group has access to decision makers, can block harmful government policies, and can veto potentially damaging decisions. Parliamentary representation...

A Model of Ethnic Conflict

We present a model of conflict in which discriminatory government policy or social intolerance is responsive to various forms of ethnic activism, including violence. It is this perceived responsiveness—captured by the probability that the government gives in and accepts a proposed change in ethnic policy—that induces individuals to mobilize, often violently, to support their cause. Yet, mobiliz...

Ethnic Mobilization, Equality and Conflict in Multi-ethnic States