| Publication |
2009.
|
| Summary/Abstract |
Do ethnic parties exacerbate ethnic conflict? Many scholars have argued that the mere appearance of ethnic parties inevitably leads to a spiral of ethnic conflict and the collapse of incipient democracies. This article tests this proposition by examining how ethnic parties affect protest and communal conflict across 82 countries and 213 ethnic/communal groups from 1985-2003. Using a variety of quantitative techniques, I find that ethnic parties do mobilize minority ethnic groups to engage in protest, but there is no natural connection between the appearance of ethnic parties and the extent to which the minority group engages in communal conflict.
|