(De facto) Historical Ethnic Borders and Contemporary Conflict in Africa

111 Pages Posted: 13 Apr 2023

See all articles by Emilio Depetris-Chauvín

Emilio Depetris-Chauvín

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Ömer Özak

Southern Methodist University - Department of Economics; IZA; Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Date Written: March 30, 2023

Abstract

We explore the effect of historical ethnic borders on contemporary conflict in Africa. We document that both the intensive and extensive margins of contemporary conflict are higher close to historical ethnic borders. Exploiting variations across artificial regions within an ethnicity's historical homeland and a theory-based instrumental variable approach, we find that regions crossed by historical ethnic borders have 27 percentage points higher probability of conflict and 7.9 percentage points higher probability of being the initial location of a conflict. We uncover several key underlying mechanisms: competition for agricultural land, population pressure, cultural similarity, and weak property rights.

Keywords: Borders, Conflict, Territory, Property Rights, Landownership, Population Pressure, Migration, Historical Homelands, Development, Africa, Voronoi Tessellation, Thiessen Tessellation

JEL Classification: D74, N57, O13, O17, O43, P48, Q15, Q34

Suggested Citation

Depetris-Chauvín, Emilio and Özak, Ömer, (De facto) Historical Ethnic Borders and Contemporary Conflict in Africa (March 30, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4405281 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4405281

Emilio Depetris-Chauvín

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile ( email )

Av Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins 340
Santiago, Región Metropolitana 8331150
Chile

Ömer Özak (Contact Author)

Southern Methodist University - Department of Economics ( email )

Dallas, TX 75275
United States
+1-214-768-2755 (Phone)
+1-214-768-1821 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://omerozak.com

IZA

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Global Labor Organization (GLO) ( email )

Collogne
Germany

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