The Long-Run Effects of the Scramble for Africa
Stelios Michalopoulos, Elias Papaioannou
American Economic Review · 2016 · Volume 106 · Issue 7
Abstract
We explore the consequences of ethnic partitioning, a neglected aspect of the Scramble for Africa, and uncover the following. First, apart from the land mass and water bodies, split and non-split groups are similar across several dimensions. Second, the incidence, severity, and duration of political violence are all higher for partitioned homelands which also experience frequent military interventions from neighboring countries. Third, split groups are often entangled in a vicious circle of government-led discrimination and ethnic wars. Fourth, respondents from survey data identifying with split ethnicities are economically disadvantaged. The evidence highlights the detrimental repercussions of the colonial border design.
Keywords
Political Processes: Rent-Seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior, Conflict, Conflict Resolution, Alliances, Revolutions, International Conflicts, Negotiations, Sanctions, Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants, Non-labor Discrimination, Economic Development: Human Resources, Human Development, Income Distribution, Migration, Formal and Informal Sectors, Shadow Economy, Institutional Arrangements, Economic Sociology, Economic Anthropology, Language, Social and Economic Stratification
Enable JavaScript for citation tools and additional paper interactions.