Rules That Matter

Political Institutions and the Diversity-Conflict Nexus

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3916586
AutoresGerald Schneider (0000-0002-0091-6217, University of Konstanz, autor correspondente), Nina Wiesehomeier (0000-0002-0134-5647, University of Konstanz, autor correspondente)
Ano2008
Volume45
Fascículo2
Páginas183-203
Data de publicação2008-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Peace Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0022-3433 • E-ISSN: 1460-3578
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0022343307087176
OpenAlexW2139736414
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas44
Referências citadas57

One controversy in the study of civil war relates to the role that institutions play in ethnically diverse societies. `Constitutional engineers' advance various institutional arrangements, ranging from democracy in general to specific constitutional and electoral rules, as those mechanisms that help divided societies to resolve disputes peacefully. Political sociologists, by contrast, maintain that political institutions are largely an epiphenomenon. Synthesizing the two conflicting schools of thought, the authors examine how different institutions in conjunction with three forms of ethnic diversity - fractionalization, dominance and polarization - affect the risk of civil war. It is argued that groups perceive institutions as a constraint and that they consider the usage of political violence if they cannot achieve their goals peacefully. The examination of these conditional institutionalist hypotheses for the period between 1950 and 2000 shows, in accordance with recent theoretical work, that fractionalization can indeed be linked to low-intensity civil wars and that this effect is particularly strong in democracies in comparison to autocracies. Interacting the measures of diversity with different democratic institutions, the authors confirm that rules that encourage power-sharing lower the risk of war in diverse societies. The event-history models, moreover, show that the combination of fractionalization and majoritarian voting forebodes badly for the internal stability of a state. Within the set of democratic regimes studied in this article, presidential systems are the most war-prone institutional setting

Autocracy · Democracy · Development economics · Economic system · Economics · Ethnic conflict · Ethnic group · Fractionalization · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Presidential system · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Religion and Society Interactions