Local Variation in Intergroup Relations after Violence

• In Event: The Political Ramifications of Violence

Abstract

In the wake of “ethnic” violence, why do people in some communities come to coexist peacefully and even build bridges across social divides while other areas remain intensely polarized? In this paper, we explore how specific features of the local political, economic and social context shape distinct post-war patterns of intergroup relations. Based on deductive insights from relevant research and inductive findings from over 100 interviews with local elites in selected municipalities in Bosnia, we focus on how conciliatory behavior by political elites and different local social norms influence publicly expressed reported attitudes and behaviors vis-à-vis outgroup members. Based on an original survey experiment (to be fielded in January 2024) and administrative data on a wide array of political, social, and economic indicators collected at the municipal level, the findings will be based on analyses of the experimental data and hierarchical linear models incorporating both individual- and municipal-level data. The paper promises to advance research on intergroup relations in post-war settings. Much contemporary social science research on this topic is derived from experimental interventions aimed at prejudice reduction. Our paper aims to generate complementary insights about why some localities are more – or less – amenable to improved post-war intergroup relations in the first place.

Authors

• Melani Cammett, Harvard University

• Kevin Troy, Harvard University