Territorial Autonomy and the Trade-Off between Civil and Communal Violence

Bibliographic Data

ID3296256
AuthorsAndreas Juon (0000-0003-1803-6688, ETH Zurich, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume119
Issue1
Pages91-107
Publication date2025-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0003055424000017
OpenAlexW4392163487
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited48

To safeguard peace in multi-ethnic countries, scholars and practitioners recommend territorial autonomy. However, there is limited cross-national research on how autonomy affects subnational ethnic conflict, and increasing concern that it redirects ethnic violence from the national to the subnational level. Addressing this gap, I argue that autonomy generates tensions over subnational government control and the distribution of local economic goods. However, whether these turn violent depends on ethnic representation in the central government. If groups are unequally represented, violent escalation is more likely due to information and commitment problems and subnational majoritarianism. To test these arguments, I provide new time-variant data on subnational boundaries, territorial autonomy, and ethnically attributed violence. I conduct a systematic analysis of all multi-ethnic countries between 1989 and 2019, instrumental variable analyses, and tests of my argument's intermediate implications. My findings underline the importance of complementing autonomy with inclusive central governments to attenuate the risks of subnational violence

Autonomy · Political economy · Political science · Sociology · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Political Conflict and Governance · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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