This historical case study examines the root of Nigeria’s increase in ethnic agitations for inclusion as a phenomenon bordering on the country’s nation-building challenges. The current ethnic agitations offer narratives similar to the pre-civil war events and they signal dangero…
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How does language as an ethnic trait affect group mobilization for contestation against the state? Are linguistic groups less likely to engage in violence, and if so, why? Existing studies have shown religious groups to be particularly conflict-prone, owing to characteristics th…
Since the resurgence of Rakhine State's conflict in 2017, and the resulting 750,000 refugees, Myanmar has received increased scrutiny by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). However, some of Myanmar's ethnic conflicts have been continuous since independence in 1948, and t…
This dissertation challenges the prevailing rentier state interpretation of political life in the countries of the Arab Gulf, a theoretical framework little changed for more than a quarter century. It does so by evaluating for the first time the fundamental claim of rentier theo…
This study is essentially a critique of how the three dominant paradigms of explanatory international relations theory - (neo-)realism, liberalism, and systemic constructivism - conceive of, analytically deal with, and explain ethnic conflict and sovereignty. By deconstructing t…
This thesis considers the extent to which decentralisation in the Republic of Macedonia between 2005 and 2012 has been effective in reducing ethnic inequalities that exacerbate social divisions and can lead to conflict. Guided by the concept of horizontal inequalities, it identi…
The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore ethnic conflict in Nigeria and the lived experiences of Nigerians who emigrated to the Pittsburgh Region in the United States. The study also ascertains the lessons learned from Nigerians who emigrated to the United States reg…
Civil conflicts with ethnic motivating factors are more likely to experience recurrence than nonethnic conflicts. In this paper I conduct a survival analysis on a group of 175 conflict episodes from 1946-2005. I argue that grievances based on religion, race, culture, language, a…
Under what conditions do multiethnic political parties win elections in deeply divided societies? Using the cases of India, Indonesia, and South Africa, this dissertation first argues that the nature of liberation movements creates a soft path dependence that affects party forma…
With growing interest in governance, this research explored local governance structures that contribute to the prevention of social conflict in the case of ethnic violence in Indonesia. To examine how local governance affects ethnic relations and peace building, I studied the re…
What explains the variation in ethnic conflict in federal systems? Existing theory and empirical evidence are mixed, with some saying it decreases violence, and some saying increases it. This puzzle also leads to a number of research questions: why does federalism fail to resolv…
Since 2003 Iraq has struggled dealing with a new type of federal constitutionalism and engaged in three separate elections. It is expected that this federalism will encompass all the ethnic and religious groups and create more peace and stability between these groups. One of my …
Understanding the geographic distribution of insurgency violence is critical for assessing where counter-insurgency and civilian protections operations are effective. It allows researchers and policymakers to detect trends in violence and propose local programs designed to quell…
This dissertation analyzes the effect of nationalism on interstate relations. More specifically, it examines how the presence of ethno-national groups that are divided into separate states affects the relationship between those states. The theoretical discussion of the early cha…
The importance of institutions in the management of social conflict is well established within the theoretical literature in political science. In the past decade, institutional explanations of trust and cooperation have focused on ways that rules and procedures may constrain op…
Why are authoritarian breakdowns often fraught with communal violence? The literatures on authoritarian breakdowns, democratization, and ethnic conflict include theories that can explain either the temporal or spatial variation of communal violence but not both. A more compellin…
Interethnic competition assumes a distinctive character in plural societies characterized by ethnic counterbalance. Counterbalance describes cases where one organized ethnic community demands priority in the political system while another ethnic community controls a significant …
Within the generally under-researched topic of civil war, research on the question of the causes of civil war is in a state of confusion. This is due primarily to the persistence of a false dichotomy between material and social-psychological theories, as well as to a tendency to…
Since the end of the Cold War, violent ethnic conflict has coincided with an increase in the number of failed or collapsed states and the emergence of more muscular and intrusive forms of external intervention by the United Nations. This dissertation explores the relationship be…