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Pre-colonial ethnic institutions and party politics in Africa

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  • Amodio, Francesco
  • Chiovelli, Giorgio
  • Munson, Dylan

Abstract

We examine the role of ethnic institutions on party politics in African democracies. We combine geo-referenced data from 15 countries, 32 parliamentary elections and around 2700 electoral constituencies. First, we document a strong negative association between the degree of pre-colonial ethnic institutional centralization and the local level of competition between political parties in democratic elections today. Second, to address concerns about unobservable differences in geography or history, we show that results hold true when leveraging for identification the redrawing of constituency boundaries over time. Pre-colonial ethnic institutions shape local electoral outcomes and matter for the present and future of African democracies.

Suggested Citation

  • Amodio, Francesco & Chiovelli, Giorgio & Munson, Dylan, 2022. "Pre-colonial ethnic institutions and party politics in Africa," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 969-980.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:50:y:2022:i:4:p:969-980
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2022.05.001
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Africa; Democracy; Ethnicity; Institutions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • P20 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - General
    • N17 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Africa; Oceania
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

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