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Colonial legacy, polarization and linguistic disenfranchisement: the case of the Sri Lankan War

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  • Paul CASTANEDA DOWER
  • Victor GINSBURGH
  • Shlomo WEBER

Abstract

We introduce a new ethnolinguistic polarization measure that takes into account the impact of historical factors on intergroup relations in Sri Lanka. During the colonial era, intergroup relations changed considerably due, in part, to the uneven spread of the English language on the island and its role in British governance. Accordingly, our measure is sensitive to regional differences in English language acquisition before independence. By using a data set on victims of terrorist attacks by district and war period during the protracted war in Sri Lanka, we find that our measure is more strongly correlated with the number of victims, and is associated with 70% more victims, on average, than is a polarization measure based on the context-independent linguistic distances between groups. Thus, the historical underpinnings of our measure illustrate in a quantitative manner the relevance of history for understanding patterns of civil conflict.
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Suggested Citation

  • Paul CASTANEDA DOWER & Victor GINSBURGH & Shlomo WEBER, 2017. "Colonial legacy, polarization and linguistic disenfranchisement: the case of the Sri Lankan War," LIDAM Reprints CORE 2885, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    • Handle: RePEc:cor:louvrp:2885
    Note: In : Journal of Development Economics, 127, 440-448, 2017
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    Cited by:

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    4. Victor Ginsburgh & Juan D. Moreno‐Ternero, 2022. "Brexit and multilingualism in the European Union," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(2), pages 708-731, May.
    5. Huremović, Kenan & Ozkes, Ali I., 2022. "Polarization in networks: Identification–alienation framework," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    6. Victor Ginsburgh & Juan D. Moreno‐Ternero, 2018. "Compensation schemes for learning a Lingua Franca in the European Union," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(7), pages 1775-1789, July.
    7. Jia LI & Takahiro ITO & Ramila USOOF-THOWFEEK & Koji YAMAZAKI, 2021. "The scars of the Eelam War: Eroded trust, heightened ethnic identity, and political legacies in north-eastern Sri Lanka," GSICS Working Paper Series 38, Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, Kobe University.
    8. William Brock & Bo Chen & Steven N. Durlauf & Shlomo Weber, 2022. "Everybody’s Talkin’ at Me: Levels of Majority Language Acquisition by Minority Language Speakers," NBER Working Papers 30410, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • F54 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - Colonialism; Imperialism; Postcolonialism

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