IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/intare/v17y2014i2p146-166.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Religious demography and conflict: Lessons from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Ragnhild NordÃ¥s

Abstract

Statistical models of civil war onset are often unsupportive of a link between measures of cultural demography and conflict. This study suggests that this is in part because most studies fail to account for what factors make demographic cleavages salient, such as policies of exclusion and repression against growing minorities that are threatening to incumbent regimes. A comparison of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana is used to shed light on this process. Based on a state of the art statistical model of civil war onset, the countries had strikingly similar conflict risk in the early 2000s, but conflict only erupted only in Côte d’Ivoire in 2002. An important factor to explain this is the exclusion and repression in the Ivorian case, spurred by a perceived increase in the northern Muslim population, vs the more accommodative policy in neighboring Ghana. Implementing lessons from this study could improve future statistical models of civil war.

Suggested Citation

  • Ragnhild NordÃ¥s, 2014. "Religious demography and conflict: Lessons from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 17(2), pages 146-166, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:intare:v:17:y:2014:i:2:p:146-166
    DOI: 10.1177/2233865914529118
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2233865914529118
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2233865914529118?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Monica Duffy Toft, 2007. "Population Shifts and Civil War: A Test of Power Transition Theory," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 243-269, July.
    2. Arnim Langer, 2005. "Horizontal Inequalities and Violent Group Mobilization in Cote d'Ivoire," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 25-45.
    3. Brancati, Dawn, 2006. "Decentralization: Fueling the Fire or Dampening the Flames of Ethnic Conflict and Secessionism?," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 60(3), pages 651-685, July.
    4. Paul Collier & Anke Hoeffler, 2004. "Greed and grievance in civil war," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(4), pages 563-595, October.
    5. Cederman, Lars-Erik & Girardin, Luc, 2007. "Beyond Fractionalization: Mapping Ethnicity onto Nationalist Insurgencies," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 101(1), pages 173-185, February.
    6. repec:fth:oxesaf:2001-3 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Arnim Langer & Abdul Raufu Mustapha & Frances Stewart, 2009. "Diversity and discord: Ethnicity, horizontal inequalities and conflict in Ghana and Nigeria," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(4), pages 477-482.
    8. Midlarsky, Manus I., 1988. "Rulers and the Ruled: Patterned Inequality and the Onset of Mass Political Violence," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(2), pages 491-509, June.
    9. Gerring, John, 2004. "What Is a Case Study and What Is It Good for?," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 98(2), pages 341-354, May.
    10. Lieberman, Evan S., 2005. "Nested Analysis as a Mixed-Method Strategy for Comparative Research," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 99(3), pages 435-452, August.
    11. Christian Davenport & David A. Armstrong, 2004. "Democracy and the Violation of Human Rights: A Statistical Analysis from 1976 to 1996," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(3), pages 538-554, July.
    12. Jean-Paul Azam, 2001. "The Redistributive State and Conflicts in Africa," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 38(4), pages 429-444, July.
    13. Lijphart, Arend, 1971. "Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(3), pages 682-693, September.
    14. Fearon, James D. & Laitin, David D., 2003. "Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 97(1), pages 75-90, February.
    15. Ragnhild Nordås & Christian Davenport, 2013. "Fight the Youth: Youth Bulges and State Repression," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(4), pages 926-940, October.
    16. Muller, Edward N. & Seligson, Mitchell A., 1987. "Inequality and Insurgency," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(2), pages 425-451, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ezcurra, Roberto & Palacios, David, 2016. "Terrorism and spatial disparities: Does interregional inequality matter?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 60-74.
    2. Patricia Justino, 2007. "Carrot or stick? Redistributive transfers versus policing in contexts of civil unrest," Research Working Papers 3, MICROCON - A Micro Level Analysis of Violent Conflict.
    3. Brown, Graham K. & Langer, Arnim, 2011. "Riding the Ever-Rolling Stream: Time and the Ontology of Violent Conflict," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 188-198, February.
    4. Dan Miodownik & Ravi Bhavnani, 2011. "Ethnic Minority Rule and Civil War Onset How Identity Salience, Fiscal Policy, and Natural Resource Profiles Moderate Outcomes," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 28(5), pages 438-458, November.
    5. Demet Yalcin Mousseau, 2023. "Can governments prevent ethnic violence through public goods spending? A cross‐country investigation," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(7), pages 1925-1941, October.
    6. Lars-Erik Cederman & Kristian Skrede Gleditsch, 2009. "Introduction to Special Issue on “Disaggregating Civil Warâ€," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 53(4), pages 487-495, August.
    7. Dominic Rohner, 2010. "From rags to rifles: deprivation, conflict and the welfare state," IEW - Working Papers 463, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    8. Justino, Patricia & Martorano, Bruno, 2018. "Welfare spending and political conflict in Latin America, 1970–2010," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 98-110.
    9. Patrick M. Regan & Richard W. Frank, 2014. "Migrant remittances and the onset of civil war," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 31(5), pages 502-520, November.
    10. Nathan M. Jensen & Daniel J. Young, 2008. "A Violent Future? Political Risk Insurance Markets and Violence Forecasts," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 52(4), pages 527-547, August.
    11. Gudrun Østby, 2013. "Inequality and political violence: A review of the literature," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 16(2), pages 206-231, June.
    12. Axel Dreher & Merle Kreibaum, 2016. "Weapons of choice," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 53(4), pages 539-553, July.
    13. Solveig Hillesund, 2022. "To fight or demonstrate? Micro foundations of inequality and conflict," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 39(2), pages 166-190, March.
    14. Sourav Bhattacharya & Joyee Deb & Tapas Kundu, 2015. "Mobility and Conflict," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 281-319, February.
    15. M Christian Lehmann, 2023. "Foreign interests and state repression: Theory and evidence from the Armenian genocide," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 60(2), pages 307-321, March.
    16. Sunde, Uwe & Fortunato, Piergiuseppe & Cervellati, Matteo, 2011. "Democratization and Civil Liberties: The Role of Violence During the Transition," CEPR Discussion Papers 8315, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Silve, Arthur & Verdier, Thierry, 2018. "A theory of regional conflict complexes," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 434-447.
    18. Eric S Mosinger, 2018. "Brothers or others in arms? Civilian constituencies and rebel fragmentation in civil war," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 55(1), pages 62-77, January.
    19. Kyle L. Marquardt & Yoshiko M. Herrera, 2015. "Ethnicity as a Variable: An Assessment of Measures and Data Sets of Ethnicity and Related Identities," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 96(3), pages 689-716, September.
    20. Bodea, Cristina & Higashijima, Masaaki & Singh, Raju Jan, 2016. "Oil and Civil Conflict: Can Public Spending Have a Mitigation Effect?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1-12.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:intare:v:17:y:2014:i:2:p:146-166. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.hufs.ac.kr/user/hufsenglish/re_1.jsp .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.