This research question is whether the social and political fear was used in the Syrian case to mobilize the Alawi minority and how. Therefore, this research is deductive research directed toward testing how applicable is the social theory of fear in the Syrian conflict. Whereas the Syrian regime has highly relied on the Alawi minority to sustain its existence in power. This in turn resulted in high casualties within the minority and bad living conditions for both the minority and the country total. However, this did not lead the regime to lose the support of the Alawis. Much of the research made on the topic presented the Alawi minority as the regime loyalists because of being privileged. This research gives a different view on the reasons which led this specific minority to support the Syrian regime. Where it presents a different approach to study the case through qualitative interviewing of a purposive sample, then analyzing the data through the narrative analysis method. The findings of this research fill the research gap presented by simply claiming Alawis are loyalists for being privileged. On the contrary, this research denies this assumption and presents findings that prove the usage of the social fear mechanism and in what method. This research does not only contribute to filling the gap in the existing research, but also to the theory of social fear applying to a further dimension than the author had explained. When it comes to the field of conflict studies, the research presents the mechanism that caused this conflict to become protracted and bloody. Those mechanisms if early detected may help avoid conflicts of the same nature in the future.

This dissertation is a history of efforts to develop the Litani River in Lebanon. Under French rule (1920–43), development projects shaped an unequal distribution of infrastructure that privileged Christian and urban regions. A cohort of nationalist Lebanese engineers advocated developing the Litani River, in Lebanon’s Shi‘a-majority southwest, as a means to foster national unity by resolving inequalities among Lebanon’s religious communities. The resulting Litani project (1955–65) was Lebanon’s first grand-scale hydroelectric project. The United States, France, and the World Bank made the project central to their respective strategies in the decolonizing Middle East. Lebanese engineers competed and collaborated with European and American experts to design infrastructure that connected the Litani, and Lebanon’s hinterland, with the capital, Beirut. Economists, religious leaders, farmers, and communists debated infrastructure designs in Beirut’s bourgeoning public sphere. The completed infrastructure generated electricity for Beirut’s consumers by extracting water from the impoverished rural margins. The World Bank deemed the project a qualified success as an investment. But most in Lebanon considered it a monumental failure because the infrastructure did not meet urgent needs. Rather, the infrastructure materialized preexisting inequalities between Beirut and its peripheries, which provided a visible injustice that a rural Shi‘i political-religious movement mobilized to demand equal rights. Unlike familiar histories of development in which rural communities resist state intrusion, in Lebanon, rural actors and engineers sought to build a larger and more equitable state by constructing socially just infrastructure.

The aim of this thesis is to analyze factors responsible for onset of ethnic conflicts and selected characteristics. By comparing to non-ethnic conflicts it was determined, if there are any differences in onset mechanisms of these two types of conflicts and thus if there is a space for explanatory role of ethnicity as a cause of ethnic conflicts. Selection of examined factors is congruent with the relevant literature and existing analyses and reflects the context of contemporary conflict research. The influence of male unemployment rate, level of Human development index and its inequality-adjusted version, human rights and finally the influence of conflicts in neighbouring countries on the onset of conflict is tested by statistical methods in component analyses. Also the intensity of ethnic and non-ethnic conflicts, war years and HDI are also compared. The comparative style of the research helps to understand the true nature of causes of intrastate conflicts and indicates, that there is no difference between the two types. Empirical character of this thesis is also the reason for assessing it within the context of other quantitative studies of conflict, comparing the results and defining the proper level of analysis for reaching tangible contributions.

This thesis describes the perceptions of the Hutu/Tutsi communities in Bujumbura on the origin of ethnic conflicts in Burundi. With the use of a qualitative research method, this thesis describes the history and origin of ethnicity and ethnic identity between the Hutu and the Tutsi. Focusing on the case study approach, both secondary and primary research methods are used in the process of data sources with emphasis on the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial eras of the country. The thesis findings show that ethnicity in Burundi has changed over the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial eras. The ethnic structures in Burundi changed from that of togetherness in the pre-colonial period to that of hatred in both the colonial and post-colonial eras. The way forward for Burundi is to change the governance structures in the country so as to dismantle the colonial structures and shift back to the traditional pre-colonial structures.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis considers the extent to which decentralisation in the Republic of Macedonia between 2005 and 2012 has been effective in reducing ethnic inequalities that exacerbate social divisions and can lead to conflict. Guided by the concept of horizontal inequalities, it identifies the factors which influenced the decision to devolve responsibilities to the municipalities after 2001. It examines the particular institutional design that Macedonian decentralisation took, and demonstrates how its use of local power-sharing mechanisms was intended to address the concerns of the Albanian and Macedonian communities simultaneously. This thesis takes an integrative approach to studying the political, administrative, and fiscal dimensions of decentralisation¿s implementation, and considers whether the reform has indeed contributed to the reduction of inequalities between Macedonia¿s ethnic groups. Where decentralisation¿s potential has not been reached, obstacles to its successful implementation are identified. While decentralisation alone may be unable to address all of the grievances raised by the Albanian community prior to 2001, this thesis argues that the reform has the potential to address many of the horizontal inequalities that were responsible for raising inter-ethnic tensions during the 1990s. However, decentralisation in Macedonia between 2005 and 2012 has only been partial, and advances in the administrative and political aspects of the reform have been undermined by limited progress in its fiscal dimension. Attempts to solve self-determination conflicts through decentralisation will fail if local self-governance exists only in form but not in substance.

In this dissertation, I investigate the socioeconomic causes of consequences of ethnic conflict, and evaluate interventions that can reduce social animosity and misperceptions about outgroups. In particular, I focus on conflict between Hindus and Muslims in India. In recent years, online misinformation has emerged as a major contributor to misperceptions and animosity towards Muslims in India. In Chapter 1, I investigate if we can inoculate people against misinformation and mitigate its impact on people’s beliefs, attitudes, and behavior? We conduct a large field experiment in India with an intervention providing weekly digests containing a compilation of fact-checks of viral misinformation. In these digests, we also incorporate narrative explainers to give details and context of issues that are politically salient and consistent target of false stories. Specifically, we address misperceptions about Muslims increasingly fuelled by online misinformation. We find that familiarity with fact-checks increases people’s ability to correctly identify misinformation by eleven percentage points. However, belief in true news also decreases by four percentage points. We estimate a structural model to disentangle the two mechanisms of impact—truth discernment, which is the ability to correctly distinguish between false and true news; and skepticism, which changes the overall credulity for both false and true news. The impact is driven by an increase in both truth discernment and skepticism. Whereas skepticism increases immediately, it takes several weeks to become better at discerning truth. Finally, our intervention reduces misperceptions about Muslims, as well as leads to changes in policy attitudes and behavior. Treated individuals are less likely to support discriminatory policies and are more likely to pay for efforts to counter the harassment of inter-faith couples. In Chapter 2, I investigate the economic impacts of conflict and social animus by estimating the causal impact of ethnic violence on economic growth in India. For causal identification, I use shift-share instruments to isolate exogenous national shocks to violence from endogenous local shocks. On average, a riot reduces state GDP growth rate by 0.14 percentage points. To investigate mechanism, I estimate the dynamics of impact using the synthetic control method and compare it to theoretical predictions from a shock to social capital versus physical capital. This shows that the negative impact of violence is likely driven by a negative shock to social capital from higher animosity and discrimination among communities exposed to violence. This impact of violence on growth creates a vicious cycle when one also considers the effect in the opposite direction – lower growth leading to more violence. The multiplier due to this vicious cycle magnifies the impact of external growth shocks by 40 percent in equilibrium. Overall, the results highlight the importance of strong institutions to manage conflict for the long-term prosperity of societies. In Chapter 3, I investigate the historical origins of ethnic violence in India by comparing violence in regions that were directly ruled by British, versus those that were indirectly ruled through native kings who had significant autonomy. I find that regions that are directly ruled have more violence in post-independence period. I then use direct British rule as an instrument for ethnic violence to estimate the impact of violence and residential segregation.

My research focuses on the role of historical legacies in shaping conflict dynamics and reinforcing social divisions today. I highlight the importance of equity in creating effective long-term governance and resilient institutions. Using the Philippines southern region of Mindanao as a case study, the three papers in my dissertation come together to provide evidence that the robust relationship between ethnic homogeneity and institutional development may not hold consistently over elongated time frames. I argue that while homogeneous communities are often quicker to organize through informal norms, the slower process of channeling regulations through structured, fixed institutions may sacrifice short term efficiency in favor of long-term durability. Viewing fractionalization as a process, I argue that this institutional trajectory will only unfold when examined through a historical lens and if fractionalization occurs in ways that incentivize collaboration instead of competition between groups. My first paper highlights the importance of a mutual investment in exchange across groups for setting communities on a path towards resiliency to communal conflicts. I argue that communities with histories of religious and ethnolinguistic diversity, alongside intergroup exchange, are more likely to invest in formal processes to resolve disputes, which in time leads to more robust institutions to mediate conflict between groups. I use 1939 census data on local dialects to show that contemporary Peace Zones are more likely to form in areas where members of the majority group invested in learning minority languages historically. The second paper provides evidence that the process of fractionalization, rather than just fractionalization itself, will carry long term consequences for institutional development. I argue that increased ethnic fractionalization during times of low conflict can break down political dynasties, which strengthens long term government responsiveness. Using census and administrative data, I show that where municipalities had higher levels of fractionalization prior to the mass migration and discriminatory laws initiated by US colonial authorities there are higher ratings of local government efficiency today. However, sharper demographic changes during the period of mass migration are associated with decreases in contemporary local government efficiency. The third paper uses original survey data collected on the management of land conflicts to explore where and why some local courts show more bias against minority groups. Survey results show that local government officials are more likely to expect community courts to rule in favor of minority groups in communities that fractionalized prior to mass migration. However, sharper demographic changes during mass migration are associated with a decreased expectation that a member of a minority group will accept the ruling of a local court. I provide evidence that historical institutional arrangements are generating path dependencies by showing that historical fractionalization prior to mass migration is associated with the development of fixed institutions to resolve conflict across multiple time periods historically and today. These papers provide theory and evidence of enhanced institutional resilience and an ability to adapt to new challenges or opportunities in communities with histories of intergroup cooperation. While fractionalization may initially weaken coordination, the institutional arrangements designed to overcome this new barrier can promote long term durability and strengthen a community's ability to effectively manage future conflicts.

The topic of whether resource scarcity affects conflict has for long been debated in the field  of peace and conflict studies. This study aimed to understand if there is a correlation between groundwater scarcity and communal conflict by answering the research question ‘How does groundwater scarcity affect communal violence in the Arid and Semi-Arid Land of Kenya’. The independent variable that was measured was groundwater scarcity and the dependent was communal conflict. The proposed theory of the thesis leads to the hypothesis that reads as follows: A decrease of access to groundwater will increase the communal conflicts of the group experiencing said scarcity. To test this hypothesis a Structured Focused Comparison was conducted on two dyads with two communal groups each, one that had experienced communal conflict and one that had not. The results from this analysis were that no aspects of groundwater scarcity had a correlation with an increase in communal conflict, there seemed however to be some covariation between a lack of quantity of groundwater and communal conflict. Further studies need to be conducted on the topic to determine if this co-variation is part of a bigger causal mechanism.