Ethnic diversity and conflict

We argue that the reason why it has proved hard to determine whether negative effects on economic performance and conflict are more strongly associated with polarized rather than fractionalized societies is because the distinction between polarization and fractionalization is only relevant for socie...

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Main Authors: Bleaney, Michael, Dimico, Arcangelo
Format: Article
Published: Cambridge University Press 2016
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Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39751/
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author Bleaney, Michael
Dimico, Arcangelo
author_facet Bleaney, Michael
Dimico, Arcangelo
author_sort Bleaney, Michael
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description We argue that the reason why it has proved hard to determine whether negative effects on economic performance and conflict are more strongly associated with polarized rather than fractionalized societies is because the distinction between polarization and fractionalization is only relevant for societies with ethnic diversity above a certain threshold. In addition, high levels of ethnic fractionalization at a country level are generally associated with regional concentration of minorities, and as a result, many regions may have a very different ethnic composition from the national average, and in particular, they may have much higher levels of ethnic polarization than the national level. Because of the very different ethnic composition of different regions in this situation, conflict is more likely to be confined to a limited geographical area.
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spelling nottingham-397512020-05-04T18:20:24Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39751/ Ethnic diversity and conflict Bleaney, Michael Dimico, Arcangelo We argue that the reason why it has proved hard to determine whether negative effects on economic performance and conflict are more strongly associated with polarized rather than fractionalized societies is because the distinction between polarization and fractionalization is only relevant for societies with ethnic diversity above a certain threshold. In addition, high levels of ethnic fractionalization at a country level are generally associated with regional concentration of minorities, and as a result, many regions may have a very different ethnic composition from the national average, and in particular, they may have much higher levels of ethnic polarization than the national level. Because of the very different ethnic composition of different regions in this situation, conflict is more likely to be confined to a limited geographical area. Cambridge University Press 2016-11-21 Article PeerReviewed Bleaney, Michael and Dimico, Arcangelo (2016) Ethnic diversity and conflict. Journal of Institutional Economics, 13 (2). pp. 357-378. ISSN 1744-1382 Fractionalization Polarization Ethnic Concentration Conflict https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-institutional-economics/article/ethnic-diversity-and-conflict/017437A73831FD743DBF49027C7E723B doi:10.1017/S1744137416000369 doi:10.1017/S1744137416000369
spellingShingle Fractionalization
Polarization
Ethnic Concentration
Conflict
Bleaney, Michael
Dimico, Arcangelo
Ethnic diversity and conflict
title Ethnic diversity and conflict
title_full Ethnic diversity and conflict
title_fullStr Ethnic diversity and conflict
title_full_unstemmed Ethnic diversity and conflict
title_short Ethnic diversity and conflict
title_sort ethnic diversity and conflict
topic Fractionalization
Polarization
Ethnic Concentration
Conflict
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39751/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39751/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39751/