International Politics
- Bormann, Nils-Christian, Lars-Erik Cederman, Scott Gates, Benjamin A. T. Graham, Simon Hug, Kaare Strøm, and Julian Wucherpfennig. Power-sharing: Institutions, Behavior, and Peace.
Abstract: A key motivation for civil war are grievances that derive from the unequal treatment or outright discrimination of ethnic groups. Ethnic equality, e.g., in the form of power-sharing should therefore reduce the risk of internal conflict. Yet conflict researchers do not agree on whether or not formal power-sharing rules are effective in preventing large-scale violence. We argue that an improved understanding of the effect of power-sharing rules requires an analysis of the stipulated mechanisms, more specifically their effect on power-sharing behavior. Combining data on three conceptually distinct types of formal power-sharing rules with information on power-sharing practices, we empirically assess this relationship on a global scale. Our findings reveal that power-sharing institutions affect the probability of ethnic conflict onset mostly through power-sharing practices that these institutions seem to induce. - Dahl, Marianne, Scott Gates, Håvard Hegre, and Håvard Strand. Why Waves? Global Patterns of Democratization, 1800 – 2000.