Rural Grievances, Landholding Inequality and Civil Conflict

International Studies Quarterly (2016) 60 (3), 511-519, DOI 10.1093/isq/sqw023

32 Pages Posted: 18 Jan 2015 Last revised: 19 Nov 2018

See all articles by Henry Thomson

Henry Thomson

Arizona State University (ASU) - Arizona State University School of Politics and Global Studies; Arizona State University (ASU) - Center for the Study of Economic Liberty

Date Written: February 29, 2016

Abstract

Economic grievances, particularly those caused by landholding inequality, play a central role in theories of political instability and civil conflict. However, cross-national empirical studies have failed to confirm the link between unequal distributions of land and civil war. This is due to problems in measuring and theorizing rural inequality. A measure of landholding inequality which accounts for landlessness captures economic grievances in the countryside and is predicted to be correlated with conflict. Gini coefficients of the concentration of land ownership do not only capture grievances among landowners, but also their ability to act collectively as rebels and a repressive rural elite. The relationship between landholding Ginis and conflict is shaped like an inverted 'U': inequality is associated with an increasing likelihood of conflict, but as concentration of landholdings and grievances reach very high levels the likelihood of conflict decreases with the formation of a small repressive class of landowners. Results of regressions using new data on overall land inequality and the concentration of landholdings confirm these predictions, suggesting that landholding inequality should not be ruled out as an important underlying cause of civil war.

Keywords: civil war, conflict, landholding inequality, development, inequality

JEL Classification: Q34, D74, Q15

Suggested Citation

Thomson, Henry, Rural Grievances, Landholding Inequality and Civil Conflict (February 29, 2016). International Studies Quarterly (2016) 60 (3), 511-519, DOI 10.1093/isq/sqw023, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2551186 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2551186

Henry Thomson (Contact Author)

Arizona State University (ASU) - Arizona State University School of Politics and Global Studies ( email )

976 S. Forest Mall Lattie F. Coor Hall
Tempe, AZ 852873902
United States

Arizona State University (ASU) - Center for the Study of Economic Liberty

United States

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