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Under God’s protective wings: Does exposure to violent conflict make Nigerians value God more?

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  • Daniel Tuki

    (Research Fellow, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Germany)

Abstract

This study examines the effect of exposure to violent conflict on the importance that Nigerians attach to God in their lives. The regression results show that conflict exposure positively correlates with the importance attached to God. The analysis also shows that the more recent a conflict is, the larger is its effect on the importance attached to God. The positive correlation persisted when I broke down the data based on religious affiliation (Christians and Muslims) and gender (males and females) and estimated models using these subsamples of respondents. However, the size of the effect was larger among Christians than Muslims. The effect size was also larger among females than males. A plausible mechanism behind these results is that reliance upon God serves as a coping strategy to deal with the threats posed by violent conflict. These results are robust to different operationalizations of violent conflict.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Tuki, 2023. "Under God’s protective wings: Does exposure to violent conflict make Nigerians value God more?," HiCN Working Papers 392, Households in Conflict Network.
    • Handle: RePEc:hic:wpaper:392
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeanet Sinding Bentzen, 2019. "Acts of God? Religiosity and Natural Disasters Across Subnational World Districts," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(622), pages 2295-2321.
    2. Sandra Iman Pertek, 2022. "“God Helped Us”: Resilience, Religion and Experiences of Gender-Based Violence and Trafficking among African Forced Migrant Women," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-15, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Tuki, Daniel, 2023. "You’re not welcome! Violence and support for a grazing ban policy in Kaduna, Nigeria," SocArXiv 3hec8, Center for Open Science.
    2. Tuki, Daniel, 2024. "Undead Past: What Drives Support for the Secessionist Goal of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Nigeria?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 26-54.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Conflict exposure; Violent conflict; Religiosity; Religious coping; Resilience; God; Nigeria;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • N37 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Africa; Oceania
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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