Hostname: page-component-5d84bcc8dc-l786m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-08-10T22:43:36.827Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Can Institutions Build Unity in Multiethnic States?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2007

ZACHARY ELKINS  and
JOHN SIDES
ZACHARY ELKINS
Affiliation:
University of Illinois
JOHN SIDES
Affiliation:
George Washington University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We investigate whether political institutions can promote attachment to the state in multiethnic societies. Building on literatures on nationalism, democratization, and conflict resolution, we discuss the importance of attachment, understood as a psychological identification with, and pride in, the state. We construct a model of state attachment, specifying the individual-, group-, and state-level conditions that foster it. Then, using cross-national survey data from 51 multiethnic states, we show that, in general, ethnic minorities manifest less attachment to the states in which they reside than do majorities. Combining the survey data with minority group attributes and country-level attributes, we show that the attachment of minorities varies importantly across groups and countries. Our central finding is that federalism and proportional electoral systems—two highly touted solutions to ethnic divisions—have at best mixed effects. These results have implications for state-building and democratic consolidation in ethnically heterogeneous states.

Information

Type
ARTICLES
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 101 , Issue 4 , November 2007 , pp. 693 - 708
Copyright
© 2007 by the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Achen Christopher H. 1986. The Statistical Analysis of Quasi-Experiments. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Amoretti Ugo M., and Nancy Bermeo. 2004. Federalism and Territorial Cleavages. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Amorim Neto Octavio, and Gary W. Cox. 1997. “Electoral Institutions, Cleavage Structures, and the Number of Parties.” American Journal of Political Science 41: 149– 74.Google Scholar
Anderson Benedict. 1991. Imagined Communities (revised edition). New York: Verso.
Anderson Christopher J., André Blais, Shaun Bowler, Todd Donovan, and Ola Listhaug. 2005. Losers' Consent: Elections and Democratic Legitimacy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Arzaghi Mohammad, and Vernon J. Henderson. 2005. “Why Countries Are Fiscally Decentralizing.” Journal of Public Economics 89 (7): 1157– 89.Google Scholar
Barnes Samuel H., and Max Kaase. 1979. Political Action: Mass Participation in Five Western Democracies. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Beck Thorsten, George Clarke, Alberto Groff, Philip Keefer, and Patrick Walsh. 2001. “New Tools in Comparative Political Economy: The Database of Political Institutions.” World Bank Economic Review 15 (1): 165– 76.Google Scholar
Bermeo Nancy. 2002. “The Import of Institutions.” Journal of Democracy 13 (2): 96– 110.Google Scholar
Bollen Kenneth and Juan Díez Medrano. 1998. “Who Are the Spaniards? Nationalism and Identification in Spain.” Social Forces 77 (2): 587– 622.Google Scholar
Brubaker Rogers. 2004. Ethnicity Without Groups. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Chinn Jeff, and Lise A. Truex. 1996. “The Question of Citizenship in the Baltics.” Journal of Democracy 7 (1): 133– 47.Google Scholar
Christin Thomas, and Simon Hug. 2006. “Political Institutions and Ethnic Conflict Resolution: Dealing with the Endogenous Nature of Institutions.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, San Diego, CA.
Citrin Jack, Beth Reingold, and Donald P. Green. 1990. “American Identity and the Politics of Ethnic Change.” Journal of Politics 52 (4): 1124– 54.Google Scholar
Cohen Frank S. 1997. “Proportional versus Majoritarian Ethnic Conflict Management in Democracies.” Comparative Political Studies 30 (5): 607– 31.Google Scholar
Collier Paul, and Anke Hoeffler. 2004. “Greed and Grievance in Civil War.” Oxford Economic Papers 56 (4): 563– 95.Google Scholar
Dahl Robert A. 1989. Democracy and its Critics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Dahl Robert A., and Edward R. Tufte. 1973. Size and Democracy. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
Dahrendorf Ralf. 1990. Reflections on the Revolution in Europe. London: Chatto and Windus.
de Figueiredo Rui, and Zachary Elkins. 2003. “Are Patriots Bigots?” American Journal of Political Science 47 (1): 171– 88.Google Scholar
de la Garza Rodolfo O., Angelo Falcon, and F. Chris Garcia. 1996. “Will the Real Americans Please Stand Up: Anglo and Mexican-American Support of Core American Political Values.” American Journal of Political Science 40 (2): 335– 51.Google Scholar
Dekker Henk, Darina Malová, and Sander Hoogendorn. 2003. “Nationalism and Its Explanations.” Political Psychology 24 (2): 345– 76.Google Scholar
Deutsch Karl. 1984. “Space and Freedom: Conditions for the Temporary Separation of Incompatible Groups.” International Political Science Review 5 (2): 125– 38.Google Scholar
Diamond Larry. 2005. Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq. New York: Henry Holt.
Di Palma Giuseppe. 1990. To Craft Democracy: An Essay on Democratic Transitions. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Dowley Kathleen M., and Brian D. Silver. 2000. “Subnational and National Loyalty: Cross-National Comparisons.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 12 (4): 357– 71.Google Scholar
Elkins Zachary. 2000. “Gradations of Democracy: Empirical Tests of Alternative Conceptualizations.” American Journal of Political Science 44: 293– 300.Google Scholar
Elkins Zachary, Thomas Ginsburg, and James Melton. 2007. The Lifespan of Written Constitutions. Manuscript.
Fearon James D., and David D. Laitin. 1996. “Explaining Interethnic Cooperation.” American Political Science Review 90 (4): 715– 735.Google Scholar
Fearon James D., and David D. Laitin. 2000. “Violence and the Social Construction of Ethnic Identity.” International Organization 54 (4): 845– 77.Google Scholar
Forsyth Murray, ed. 1989. Federalism and Nationalism. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Gallagher Michael. 1991. “Proportionality, Disproportionality, and Electoral Systems.” Electoral Studies 10 (1): 33– 51.Google Scholar
Gellner Ernest. 1983. Nations and Nationalism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Golder Matt. 2003. “Explaining Variation in the Electoral Success of Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe.” Comparative Political Studies 36: 432– 66.Google Scholar
Gurr Ted Robert. 1993. Minorities at Risk. Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace Press.
Hechter Michael. 2000. Containing Nationalism. New York: Oxford University Press.
Horowitz Donald L. 1985. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Horowitz Donald L. 2002. “Constitutional Design: Proposals versus Processes.” In The Architecture of Democracy, ed. Andrew Reynolds. New York: Oxford University Press, 15– 36.
Howard Marc. 2002. “The Weakness of Postcommunist Civil Society.” Journal of Democracy 13 (1): 157– 69.Google Scholar
Hug Simon. 2003. “Selection Bias in Comparative Research: The Case of Incomplete Data Sets.” Political Analysis 11 (3): 255– 74.Google Scholar
Inglehart Ronald. 1997. Modernization and Postmodernization: Cultural, Economic, and Political Change in 43 Societies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Inglehart Ronald, et al. 2004. World Values Surveys and European Values Surveys, 1999–2001 [Computer file]. ICPSR version. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research [producer], 2002. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2004.
Kymlicka Will. 1996. “Social Unity in a Liberal State.” Social Philosophy and Policy 13 (1): 105– 36.Google Scholar
Lijphart Arend. 1999. Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Linz Juan, and Alfred Stepan. 1992. “Political Identities and Electoral Sequences: Spain, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia.” Daedalus 121 (2): 123– 39.Google Scholar
Linz Juan, and Alfred Stepan. 1996. Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Lipset Seymour Martin. 1981. Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
Luke Douglas A. 2004. Multilevel Modeling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Lustick Ian S., Dan Miodownik, and Roy J. Eidelson. 2004. “Secessionism in Multicultural States: Does Sharing Power Prevent or Encourage It?” American Political Science Review 98 (2): 209– 29.Google Scholar
Marshall Monty G., Keith Jaggers, and Ted Robert Gurr. 2004. Polity IV: Political Regime Transitions and Characteristics, 1800–1999.Google Scholar
Mill John Stuart. 1861. Considerations on Representative Government.
Nordlinger Eric. 1972. Conflict Regulation in Divided Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Norris Pippa. 2004. Electoral Engineering. New York: Cambridge University Press.
O'Donnell Guillermo, and Philippe Schmitter. 1986. Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Posen Barry R. 1993. “The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict.” Survival 35 (1): 27– 47.Google Scholar
Przeworski Adam. 1991. Democracy and the Market. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Przeworski Adam, Michael E. Alvarez, José Antonio Cheibub, and Fernando Limongi. 1999. Democracy and Development: Political Institutions and Well-Being in the World, 1950–1990. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rabushka Alvin, and Kenneth A. Shepsle. 1972. Politics in Plural Societies: A Theory of Democratic Instability. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill.
Rahn Wendy M. 2005. “Globalization, the Decline of Civic Commitments, and the Future of Democracy.” Unpublished manuscript, University of Minnesota.
Raudenbush Stephen W., and Anthony S. Bryk. 2002. Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Reilly Benjamin. 2001. Democracy in Divided Societies: Electoral Engineering for Conflict Management. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Riker William H. 1964. Federalism: Origin, Operation, Significance. Boston: Little, Brown.
Rodden Jonathan. 2004. “Comparative Federalism and Decentralization: On Meaning and Measurement.” Comparative Politics 36 (4): 481– 500.Google Scholar
Rustow Dankwart A. 1970. “Transitions to Democracy: Toward a Dynamic Model.” Comparative Politics 2 (3): 337– 63.Google Scholar
Saideman Stephen M., and R. William Ayres. 2000. “Determining the Causes of Irredentism: Logit Analyses of Minorities at Risk Data from the 1980s and 1990s.” Journal of Politics 62 (4): 1126– 44.Google Scholar
Saideman Stephen M., Danid J. Lanoue, Michael Campenni, and Samuel Stanton. 2002. “Democratization, Political Institutions, and Ethnic Conflict: A Pooled Time-Series Analysis, 1985–1998.” Comparative Political Studies 35 (1): 103– 29.Google Scholar
Sidanius Jim, Seymour Feshbach, Shana Levin, and Felicia Pratto. 1997. “The Interface Between Ethnic and National Attachment: Ethnic Pluralism or Ethnic Dominance?” Public Opinion Quarterly 61: 103– 33.Google Scholar
Silver Brian D., and Kathleen M. Dowley. 2000. “Measuring Political Culture in Multiethnic Societies: Reaggregating the World Values Survey.” Comparative Political Studies 33 (4): 517– 50.Google Scholar
Smith Tom W. 2003. “Developing Comparable Questions in Cross-National Surveys.” In Cross-Cultural Survey Methods, Janet A. Harkness, Fons J.R. Van de Vijver, and Peter Mohler. ed. Hoboken: Wiley. pp. 69– 92.
Smith Tom W., and Lars Jarkko. 1998. “National Pride: A Cross National Analysis.” GSS Cross-national Report No. 19. National Opinion Research Center and University of Chicago.
Snyder Jack. 2000. From Voting to Violence: Democratization and Nationalist Conflict. New York: Norton.
Steenbergen Marco R., and Bradford S. Jones. 2002. “Modeling Multilevel Data Structures.” American Journal of Political Science 46: 218– 37.Google Scholar
Stepan Alfred. 1999. “Federalism and Democracy: Beyond the U.S. Model.” Journal of Democracy 10 (4): 19– 34.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.