Work

Estimating the relationship between ethnic inequality, conflict and voter turnout in Africa using geocoded data

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: To what extent is voter turnout influenced by ethnic inequality? We combine ethnolinguistic maps on sub-national locations of ethnic groups with night-time light satellite images to construct a dataset of ethnic inequality across sub-national locations in 24 African countries. Using election data from the constituency-level elections archive, we show that ethnic inequality is negatively associated with voter turnout. This relationship holds even after we control for endogeneity and geographic characteristics. We also construct a dataset of election conflict across the sub-national areas. We find that an increase in ethnic inequality is associated with an increase in conflict, which reduces voter turnout.

Source: World Development

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106644

Authors: Klaus Ackermann, Sefa Awaworyi Churchill, Russell Smyth

Institutions: Monash University, RMIT University

Language: English

Topic: Political Conflict and Governance

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,300