Does political decentralization exacerbate or ameliorate ethnopolitical mobilization? a test of contesting propositions

Dan Miodownik*, Britt Cartrite

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article presents the results of an experiment that attempted the reconciliation of opposite expectations regarding the effectiveness of political decentralization on ethno-political mobilization. An agent-based model was run thousands of times to explore the effect of decentralization. The experiments suggest that the impact is nonlinear: weak and medium levels of decentralization increase the likelihood of ethno-political mobilization, while strong decentralization decreases it. The explanation derives from how minority control of political institutions affects the dynamic of minority identity ascription and the realization of the goal or the frustration of ethnic members seeking more complete political dominance of the regional ideational space.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)731-746
Number of pages16
JournalPolitical Research Quarterly
Volume63
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2010

Keywords

  • agent-based modeling
  • ethno-political mobilization
  • political decentralization

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