Central Data Catalog
Citation Information
Type | Journal Article - American Journal of Political Science |
Title | Political competition and ethnic identification in Africa |
Author(s) | |
Volume | 54 |
Issue | 2 |
Publication (Day/Month/Year) | 2010 |
Page numbers | 494-510 |
URL | http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2010.00443.x/pdf |
Abstract | This article draws on data from over 35,000 respondents in 22 public opinion surveys in 10 countries and finds strong evidence that ethnic identities in Africa are strengthened by exposure to political competition. In particular, for every month closer their country is to a competitive presidential election, survey respondents are 1.8 percentage points more likely to identify in ethnic terms. Using an innovative multinomial logit empirical methodology, we find that these shifts are accompanied by a corresponding reduction in the salience of occupational and class identities. Our findings lend support to situational theories of social identification and are consistent with the view that ethnic identities matter in Africa for instrumental reasons: because they are useful in the competition for political power. |
Related studies
» | Africa - Afrobarometer Survey 1999-2001, Merged 12 Country, Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA), Michigan State University (MSU), Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) |
» | Africa - Afrobarometer Survey 2002-2004, Merged 16 Country, Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA), Michigan State University (MSU), Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) |
Eifert, Benn, Edward Miguel, and Daniel N Posner. "Political competition and ethnic identification in Africa." American Journal of Political Science 54, no. 2 (2010): 494-510.