Perceived and objective inequalities in conflict-prone
societies 1
Hamid Ali, Mesfin Gebremichael,
Simon Hug2, Madhushree Sekher
Département de science
politique et
relations internationales,
Université de Genève
Paper prepared for presentation at the
ISA Annual Convention, 2017
(Baltimore, February 22-25, 2017)
First version: September 2016, this
version: Jan 1, 2017
Please do not quote or cite: on request you will obtain a quotable version later
Abstract
Recent scholarship has emphasized that horizontal inequalities among
groups, either of an economic or a political type, are an important
driver of conflict. Most scholars, implictly, assume that such
objective inequalities lead to grievances, which implies that they are
also perceived as such by individuals. While some researchers have
started to explore empirically in a few select cases whether this
assumption actually holds, we wish to contribute to this literature in
two ways. First, drawing on various surveys we wish to cover a larger
set of countries (and thus groups) to assess whether perceived and
objective inequalities actually go hand in hand.
In a second step,
drawing on much more detailed information than comparative surveys can
provide, we provide insights from field research in Ethiopia, India,
and Sudan. Our findings suggest that the link between perceived and
objective inequalities is not as straightforward as commonly assumed
and is contingent on the context.
1 Research
assistance by Elise Clerc and the financial support from the
Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss Development
Agency through the R4D project "Ethnic Power Relations and
Conflict in Fragile States" is greatly appreciated.
2 Département de science politique et
relations internationales, Faculté des sciences de la société; Université de Genève; 40 Bd du Pont
d'Arve; 1211 Genève 4; Switzerland; phone ++41 22 379 89 47; email:
simon.hug@unige.ch
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