The politics of ethnic identity in Sub-Saharan Africa

Arbeitspapier

Recent literature on ethnic favouritism suggests that Presidents tend to target co-ethnics with patronage, especially in non-democracies. Coupled with evidence on the role of incentives in driving ethnic identity change, I propose that a change in the ethnic identity of presidents in non-democracies should lead to ethnic switching among citizens towards the new ruling ethnic group. Using Demographic and Health Survey data from thirteen African countries, I show that change in the ethnic identity of the President leads to a shift of women identifying with the new ruling ethnic group of around 1.5% of the population in non-democracies, or on average 10% of the President's ethnic group. This relationship is robust to the use of a variety of control variables and different specifications as well as the use of qualitative case study evidence from Ghana and Guinea; I also suggest it may be an underestimate due to data limitations.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Working Paper Series ; No. 17-188

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft
• Subject: Africa ; Ethnicity ; Ethnic Identity ; Democratization ; Ethno-Regional Favouritism ; DHS Data

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Green, Elliott
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Department of International Development
• (where): London
• (when): 2017

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/224814
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET