Indra De Soysa
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 201866 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Indra De Soysa |
| PRENOMES | Indra |
| SOBRENOME | De Soysa |
| ASSINATURA | DE SOYSA I |
| AFILIAÇÕES | Norwegian University of Science and Technology |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2751-4223 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 71 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 776 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 70 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 1 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 1997 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 14 |
Does women's empowerment protect women from violence? A test of political and economic empowerment on female homicide rates and victim ratios in comparative international perspective, 1990–2021
Using indicators of women’s empowerment from the Varieties of Democracy data and female homicide rates from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) project on mortality due to injuries sustained from interpersonal violence, this study finds that higher levels of women’s political empowerment are associated with higher female homicide rates. The substantive impacts of these effects, however, are slight. Disaggregating the empowerment index into women's…
WHO launches global network of institutes to strengthen capacity for health inequality monitoring
This article introduces the global WHO-managed Health Inequality Monitoring Network, which is dedicated to strengthening and expanding health inequality monitoring practices at global, regional and country levels. Launched in 2025, the Health Inequality Monitoring Network consists of 12 inaugural institutional members, represented by over 140 affiliated individuals spanning all world regions. The Network aims to: strengthen capacities for health …
Democracy, Egalitarianism and the Homicide Rate
Democracy and the level of economic development correlate tightly. While some argue that egalitarian conditions inherent in democracies reduce homicide, others suggest that it is economic development that matters. This study evaluates competing theory and tests the democracy—homicide link using homicide data defined as death due to interpersonal violence and novel data on a variety of democracies. The results show that democracies associate posit…
Group Grievances, Opportunity, and the Onset of Civil War
Recent scholarship claims that group grievances due to political exclusion and discrimination drive civil wars. The grievance perspective suggests that socio-psychological factors allow groups to overcome collective action problems. We argue that the grievance perspective (over)focuses on the ends and not means , which are critical to explain how groups survive state sanction, allowing contention to escalate to civil war. We suggest that inclusiv…
Which freedoms benefit the poor? A two‐horse race between economic and political freedoms on health‐adjusted life expectancy and child mortality, 1990–2020
We examine theoretically and empirically whether democratic rights might be superior to economic rights in a two‐horse race, utilizing indicators of poverty reduction, such as health‐adjusted life expectancy (HALE) and child mortality as outcomes. The results show robustly that economic freedoms associate positively with HALE and negatively with child mortality, while the effect of democracy is more mixed. Studies reporting a negative effect of p…
Egalitarian governance and the green energy transition
How well are the world ́s major economies responding to the challenge of climate change? We address this question by assessing democratic governance styles, contrasted as more egalitarian from ones that are more liberal, on the green energy transition. We propose that egalitarian societies have a greater demand for balancing production, consumption, and rent-seeking demands with environmental ones, leading to more compromised solutions. We assess…
Does Norwegian Aid Reward Equitable Access to Health in Recipient States? Assessing a ‘Moral Superpower’s’ Aid to Pro-Poor Development, 1990–2019
We assess if Norwegian aid policies, widely heralded for being morally driven, rewards pro-poor governance. If higher levels of equitable access to health attracts higher levels of Norwegian aid, one might argue that Norwegian aid prioritizes the poor, which is both morally good and instrumentally valuable. We find that total Norwegian aid and aid for health and social development are economically less valuable to recipients with greater equity o…
Green with envy? The effects of inequality and equity within and across social groups on greenhouse gas emissions, 1990–2020
A friend indeed to friends in need? China's trade regime and Covid-19 vaccine diplomacy
Employing newly available data on Chinese Covid-19 vaccine deliveries for a cross-section of 157 countries, we examine if China's vaccine diplomacy is driven by altruistic, enlightened self-interested motives or by purely strategic motives. According to the enlightened self-interested logic, China's vaccine supply would coincide with helping countries dependent on China for trade, i.e. its trading friends, while the strategic logic would entail p…
Immigration and the “Welfare Magnet” hypothesis
Large segments of populations in the industrialized West believe that immigrants cause crime. Some scholars suggest that it is generous welfare that attracts so-called “welfare magnets,” increasing the possibility that the worst kind of immigrant locates in strong welfare states. Empirical studies on crime, however, do not support the view that immigrants are more to blame for crime than natives, although some immigrant groups might be overrepres…
Blessing or curse? Assessing the local impacts of foreign direct investment on conflict in Africa
The question of foreign direct investment (FDI) and socio-political development is debated heavily. Liberals believe that FDI brings economic opportunities and/or increased incentives for peace and security among host societies. Critics suggest that FDI is exploitative, leading to conditions that increase the risk of violence. We take a political economy perspective that views FDI as problematic depending on how FDI affects politically powerful l…
Free market capitalism and societal inequities
Some blame free-market capitalism for increasing income inequality, arguing that richer classes could block access to others for maintaining their privileges. By manipulating the degree of political rights and resources available to others, the rich could reduce opportunities for others. Others argue that growth-promoting free markets raise all incomes, increasing aggregate welfare. We argue that governments more dependent on free markets are lik…
Can bigger health budgets cushion pandemics? An empirical test of Covid-19 deaths across the world
How has public healthcare spending prepared countries for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic? Arguably, spending is the primary policy tool of governments for providing effective health. We argue that the effectiveness of spending for reducing COVID deaths is conditional on the existence of healthcare equity and lower political corruption because the health sector is particularly susceptible to political spending. Our results, obtained using ordinary…
Ethnic Diversity, Racial Prejudice, and Attitudes towards Equity in the West and Beyond
Recent studies find that increasing ethnic diversity through immigration reduces support for welfare states. Using multilevel analysis of a wide sample of countries (≅100) and a large sampling of individuals (≅310,000), we find little evidence to suggest that the degree of diversity or antipathy towards ethnic others alone matter in explaining attitudes towards equity or public action aimed at reducing inequalities. Attitudes against reducing ine…
Economic freedom vs. egalitarianism
Many argue that free markets drive climate change and harm environmental sustainability. They suggest that democratic controls over profligate capital and unregulated markets better secure economic wellbeing and environmental objectives. Eco‐modernists, contrarily, argue that economic freedoms generate entrepreneurial technological change for reducing poverty and increasing environmental quality since people's demands for cleaner consumption are …
Does Empowering Women in Politics Boost Human Development? An Empirical Analysis, 1960–2018
Does the political empowerment of women increase human development? Using equality of access to schooling and health as indicators of pro-poor development policy and objective measures of female school completion and child mortality under the age of five as measures of human capital development, pooled ordinary least square (OLS) fixed effects regressions show robustly that the political empowerment of women associates positively with higher huma…
Economic governance and homicide
This article posits that free-market institutions and practices reduce economic distortions that provide rents for underground organizations, which ultimately form criminogenic environments. Rents from market distortions provide 'lootable income' that feeds 'criminal organizations', which rely on violence for enforcement of contracts. Using an index of economic freedom, this study contrasts several relevant measures of political freedoms, politic…
Does free-market capitalism drive unequal access to health? An empirical analysis, 1970–2015
Many scholars, particularly in public health, argue that neoliberal capitalist economic forces adversely affect communities by increasing inequalities, ultimately affecting health. Apparently, corporate capitalism affects health and communitarian concerns because governments place corporate profits over the publićs interests. Using unique data collected by the Varieties of Democracy (VDEM) project that capture the degree of access of the poorest …
Rich and Naïve? Assessing the Effects of Norwegian Aid on Political Corruption, 1980–2018
The effectiveness of aid is heatedly debated in academia and policy circles. Annually, billions of dollars are transferred from industrialized countries to developing countries out of moral and practical concerns. Can aid from Norway, a country apparently with little strategic interests, a great deal of political consensus in support of aid, and much wealth, make a difference towards achieving better political governance in the poorer world? Usin…
Does social globalisation through access to information communication technologies drive obesity among youth? An empirical analysis, 1990–2013
Scholars debate the effects of globalisation on obesity. Using the latest data on access to ICTs and the Global Burden of Disease data on excess weight gain and obesity, we find that both social globalisation and access to ICTs lower the overweight and obese share among the global youth cohort aged 15-19. Previous studies report mixed results, which are hard to evaluate because of the use of different data, sample sizes, and estimating strategies…
Is Islam Compatible with Free-Market Capitalism? An Empirical Analysis, 1970–2010
Are majority-Muslim countries laggards when it comes to developing liberal economic institutions? Using an Index of Economic Freedom and its component parts, this study finds that Muslim-dominant countries (>50% of the population) are positively associated with free-market capitalism. Protestant dominance is also positively correlated, but the association stems from just two components of the index, mainly “legal security and property rights prot…
Special Issue on trade and health
Oil, Islam, and the Middle East
There is a lively debate on the relative impacts of Islam, oil wealth, and Middle Eastern institutional legacies regarding democratization and the spread of liberal values. We examine this issue using religious repression. We argue that oil-wealthy rulers use religious monopoly to control dissent. Our results show that oil wealth increases religious repression above the effects of Muslim dominance and a host of sundry controls. The Middle East an…
Missing the forest for the trees! A reply to “Lazy thinking, lazy giving—or lazy research?”
Do Globalization and Free Markets Drive Obesity among Children and Youth? An Empirical Analysis, 1990–2013
Scholars of public health identify globalization as a major cause of obesity. Free markets are blamed for spreading high calorie, nutrient-poor diets, and sedentary lifestyles across the globe. Global trade and investment agreements apparently curtail government action in the interest of public health. Globalization is also blamed for raising income inequality and social insecurities, which contribute to “obesogenic” environments. Contrary to rec…
Greed and Grievance
Current scholarship on civil wars and transitions from war to peace has made significant progress in understanding the political dimensions of internal conflict, but the economic motivations spurring political violence have been comparatively neglected. This pathbreaking volume identifies the economic and social factors underlying the perpetuation of civil wars, exploring as well the economic incentives and disincentives available to internationa…
Paradise is a Bazaar? Greed, Creed, and Governance in Civil War, 1989-99
Some prominent recent studies of civil war argue that greed, not grievance, is the primary motivating factor behind violence, basing their conclusions on a strong empirical association between primary commodity exports and civil war. This study contrasts alternative propositions that see need-, creed-, and governance-based explanations that are intimately related to the question of primary commodity dependence and conflict. Maximum likelihood ana…
Boon Or Bane? Reassessing the Productivity of Foreign Direct Investment
We assess the effects of foreign and domestic capital on economic growth using the latest data and better models of economic growth than those previously used. We explicitly consider the role of human capital in the process of economic development. We find no evidence that foreign direct investment harms the economic prospects of developing countries. The flow of foreign capital from 1980 to 1991 spurred growth in gross domestic product per capit…
Coercion, Co-optation, or Cooperation
Recent research identifies state capacity as a crucial determinant of civil peace. Scholars often interpret the association between wealth and peace as state capacity effects, but they have not clearly distinguished the impact of administrative reach and capacity for coercion from those effects that may capture good governance related to the provision of political goods and quality of institutions.We revisit the relationship between state capacit…
Globalization and the Right to Free Association and Collective Bargaining
Resource Wealth and the Risk of Civil War Onset
The existing literature identifies natural resource wealth as a major determinant of civil war. The dominant causal link is that resources provide finance and motive (the “looting rebels” model). Others see natural resources as causing “political Dutch disease,” which in turn weakens state capacity (the “state capacity” model). In the looting rebels model, resource wealth first increases, but then decreases the risk for civil war as very large we…
Ecoviolence
Some claim that the scarcity of natural resources, particularly renewable resources, is a “causal mechanism” behind civil war. Recent work in development studies and political science suggest that relative abundance of natural resources cause broad-based socio-economic and political problems, while some using microeconomic theories even blame abundance directly for motivating “loot-seeking” rebellion and allowing the finance of large-scale armed …
Islam’s Bloody Innards? Religion and Political Terror, 1980–2000
Culturalists claim that political outcomes, such as respect for human rights, are deeply rooted in culture. Some have singled out Islam as particularly problematic. We assess whether Muslim societies suffer higher levels of political terror compared with others. Our results show that countries containing larger shares of Catholics, and those dominated by Catholics, fare the worst. The share of the population Muslim and Membership in the Organizat…
The natural resource curse and the spread of HIV/Aids, 1990-2008
Testing Power-Transition Theory Using Alternative Measures of National Capabilities
There has been a long debate over whether peace is best preserved by a balance or preponderance of power. Organski and Kugler suggested that the dynamics of relative dyadic power matter most. Using GNP to measure national capabilities, they found support for their power-transition theory, but only for states considered to be contenders for dominance in the international system. Subsequently, Houweling and Siccama reported important new evidence i…
Enter The Dragon! An Empirical Analysis of Chinese versus US Arms Transfers to Autocrats and Violators of Human Rights, 1989-20061
The rise of China has led to a spate of scholarly and journalistic speculation about the future of a liberal world order. Apparently, the rise of a nondemocratic, Asian rival to US hegemony potentially undermines the growth of democracy throughout the system. Many see a resource-hungry China engaging itself globally out of purely self-interested motives, and Chinese business and aid offer a viable alternative to Western influence. Using the Stock…
Is the hidden hand an iron fist? Capitalism and civil peace, 1970-2005
There is surprisingly little empirical scholarship on the spread of capitalistic economic policies under the rubric of 'globalization' and domestic peace. While the classical liberals saw free markets leading to social harmony because of self-interest of individuals, who cooperate for profit, Marxists and others viewed markets as anarchical, requiring state intervention for obtaining justice and peace. The authors argue from an opportunity-cost p…
Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death! State Repression, Ethnic Grievance and Civil War, 1981–2004
Recent research on the causes of civil war seeks to identify whether group grievances, or opportunity for organisation, motivates rebellion. Similarly, scholars debate whether ethnicity matters in civil war due to group grievances or the opportunity to mobilise. We introduce the lack of empowerment rights, defined as social, political and economic empowerment directly and conditionally in models of civil war onset using novel methods and data. We…
Globalization and the Empowerment of Women
Trade Openness, Foreign Direct Investment and Child Labor
Do Resource-Wealthy Rulers Adopt Transparency-Promoting Laws
Some argue that the right kinds of institutions mitigate, or even prevent, the development of “natural resource curses.” Rulers with access to resource wealth, however, are unlikely to adopt such institutions, because doing so would undermine their discretionary power. We examine this proposition by testing whether countries with access to natural resource wealth prove less likely to adopt transparency-promoting Freedom of Information (FOI) laws.…
But Power and Wealth are Satisfying
The authors of Power Is Not Satisfaction (Lemke and Reed 1998 [this issue]) take us to task for suggesting that power transition theory is internally inconsistent. Despite their arguments and empirical analyses, we continue to believe that the theory suffers from important, unresolved conceptual problems. The authors are right that these are not trivial issues because substantial research, including our own, indicates that transition theory contr…
False Prophet, or Genuine Savior? Assessing the Effects of Economic Openness on Sustainable Development, 1980–99
While many herald globalization—the increasing interconnectedness of national economies—to be associated with rising standards of living across the globe, many others fear its effects on sustainability. Anti- globalization forces and environmentalists in particular view these developments as a threat to the welfare of future generations because of profligate and excessive current consumption. This study is the first to estimate the effects of dep…
Why do poor countries suffer costly conflict? Unpacking per capita income and the onset of civil war
Empirical studies on the causes of civil war robustly show that poor countries are more likely to suffer civil war than rich ones. However, the interpretations of this finding differ. The literature proposes three different causal mechanisms: (1) poverty leads to grievances; (2) income proxies the opportunity-cost of rebelling; and (3) income proxies state capacity. Using factor analysis, logistic modeling and multiple imputation, we test which o…
A Fate Worse Than Debt? International Financial Institutions and Human Rights, 1981-2003
Some report that human rights are likely to be violated when poor countries sign up to structural adjustment programmes (SAPs). These violations apparently occur because ordinary people revolt against the neo-liberal policies that SAPs push. This study examines the effect of the actual flow of finances from the World Bank and the IMF, holding constant all other bank-based financial flows, on government respect for human rights. The authors find t…
Free market capitalism and societal inequities
Some blame free-market capitalism for increasing income inequality, arguing that richer classes could block access to others for maintaining their privileges. By manipulating the degree of political rights and resources available to others, the rich could reduce opportunities for others. Others argue that growth-promoting free markets raise all incomes, increasing aggregate welfare. We argue that governments more dependent on free markets are lik…
Tools of the torturer? Small arms imports and repression of human rights, 1992–20041
Several studies have focused on the effect of military trade and defence spending on human rights, particularly the effect of US military aid in Latin America. Little is known, however, about the human rights effects of the proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW). Human rights groups, such as Amnesty International, are adamant that any future Arms Trade treaty ban small arms to risky environments. Using a unique dataset on small arms…
Do pro-market economic reforms drive human rights violations? An empirical assessment, 1981–2006
Globalization and Political Violence, 1970–2008
The question of globalization's effect on social harmony continues to be fiercely debated. We use a comprehensive measure of globalization (the KOF index) designed to capture the intensity of connectivity among countries along economic, social, and political dimensions. Our results suggest that globalization, particularly economic and social globalization, predicts a lower risk of civil war and political repression, but economic globalization pre…
Disarming Fears of Diversity
This study investigates whether ethnic and other forms of social diversity affect militarization of society. Recent scholarship in economics finds that high diversity leads to lower provision of public goods. At the same time, many conflict studies find that highly diverse societies face a lower risk of civil war, as opposed to relatively more homogenous populations. The authors explore whether diversity prompts governments to militarize heavily …
Testing Power-Transition Theory Using Alternative Measures of National Capabilities
There has been a long debate over whether peace is best preserved by a balance or preponderance of power. Organski and Kugler suggested that the dynamics of relative dyadic power matter most. Using GNP to measure national capabilities, they found support for their power-transition theory, but only for states considered to be contenders for dominance in the international system. Subsequently, Houweling and Siccama reported important new evidence i…
Book Notes
But Power and Wealth are Satisfying
The authors of Power Is Not Satisfaction (Lemke and Reed 1998 [this issue]) take us to task for suggesting that power transition theory is internally inconsistent. Despite their arguments and empirical analyses, we continue to believe that the theory suffers from important, unresolved conceptual problems. The authors are right that these are not trivial issues because substantial research, including our own, indicates that transition theory contr…
Book Notes
Book Notes
Book Notes
Boon Or Bane? Reassessing the Productivity of Foreign Direct Investment
We assess the effects of foreign and domestic capital on economic growth using the latest data and better models of economic growth than those previously used. We explicitly consider the role of human capital in the process of economic development. We find no evidence that foreign direct investment harms the economic prospects of developing countries. The flow of foreign capital from 1980 to 1991 spurred growth in gross domestic product per capit…
The Resource Curse
Greed and Grievance
Current scholarship on civil wars and transitions from war to peace has made significant progress in understanding the political dimensions of internal conflict, but the economic motivations spurring political violence have been comparatively neglected. This pathbreaking volume identifies the economic and social factors underlying the perpetuation of civil wars, exploring as well the economic incentives and disincentives available to internationa…
Book Notes
Book Notes
Ecoviolence
Some claim that the scarcity of natural resources, particularly renewable resources, is a “causal mechanism” behind civil war. Recent work in development studies and political science suggest that relative abundance of natural resources cause broad-based socio-economic and political problems, while some using microeconomic theories even blame abundance directly for motivating “loot-seeking” rebellion and allowing the finance of large-scale armed …
Paradise is a Bazaar? Greed, Creed, and Governance in Civil War, 1989-99
Some prominent recent studies of civil war argue that greed, not grievance, is the primary motivating factor behind violence, basing their conclusions on a strong empirical association between primary commodity exports and civil war. This study contrasts alternative propositions that see need-, creed-, and governance-based explanations that are intimately related to the question of primary commodity dependence and conflict. Maximum likelihood ana…
Book Notes
Trade Openness, Foreign Direct Investment and Child Labor
Globalization and the Right to Free Association and Collective Bargaining
False Prophet, or Genuine Savior? Assessing the Effects of Economic Openness on Sustainable Development, 1980–99
While many herald globalization—the increasing interconnectedness of national economies—to be associated with rising standards of living across the globe, many others fear its effects on sustainability. Anti- globalization forces and environmentalists in particular view these developments as a threat to the welfare of future generations because of profligate and excessive current consumption. This study is the first to estimate the effects of dep…
The devil's excrement as social cement
Using a direct measure of repression of dissent, we find ample evidence to suggest that energy and mineral wealth strongly predict higher levels of political terror, results that are both statistically and substantively large. Oil-rich and mineral-rich countries contain higher levels of political terror regardless of the level of autocracy, the incidence of civil and international war and sundry controls. The results are robust to different measu…
The Effect of Globalization on National Income Inequality
We assess the effect of globalization on income inequality within countries, focusing on the influence of accumulated foreign direct investment stocks. We analyze data on inequality and foreign investment for 72 countries, 1970-90, incorporating in our tests the Kuznets (1955) curve, the character of political institutions, and various other aspects of the economy and society emphasized in previous research. Our results indicate that globalizatio…
Resource Wealth and the Risk of Civil War Onset
The existing literature identifies natural resource wealth as a major determinant of civil war. The dominant causal link is that resources provide finance and motive (the “looting rebels” model). Others see natural resources as causing “political Dutch disease,” which in turn weakens state capacity (the “state capacity” model). In the looting rebels model, resource wealth first increases, but then decreases the risk for civil war as very large we…
Green giant or straw man? Environmental pressure and civil conflict, 1961–99
Informal Institutions
The OECD is a unique forum where the governments of 30 democracies work together to address the economic, social and environmental challenges of globalisation.The OECD is also at the forefront of efforts to understand and to help governments respond to new developments and concerns, such as corporate governance, the information economy and the challenges of an ageing population.The Organisation provides a setting where governments can compare pol…
Islam’s Bloody Innards? Religion and Political Terror, 1980–2000
Culturalists claim that political outcomes, such as respect for human rights, are deeply rooted in culture. Some have singled out Islam as particularly problematic. We assess whether Muslim societies suffer higher levels of political terror compared with others. Our results show that countries containing larger shares of Catholics, and those dominated by Catholics, fare the worst. The share of the population Muslim and Membership in the Organizat…
Underdevelopment and Human Insecurity
Disarming Fears of Diversity
This study investigates whether ethnic and other forms of social diversity affect militarization of society. Recent scholarship in economics finds that high diversity leads to lower provision of public goods. At the same time, many conflict studies find that highly diverse societies face a lower risk of civil war, as opposed to relatively more homogenous populations. The authors explore whether diversity prompts governments to militarize heavily …
Economics (56 obras) · Political science (54 obras) · Law (35 obras) · Politics (34 obras) · Development economics (27 obras) · Market economy (25 obras) · Political Conflict and Governance (25 obras) · Law (22 obras) · Sociology (21 obras) · International Development and Aid (16 obras)