Ethnic Inequality and the Ethnification of Political Parties

Why does ethnicity become a salient element of electoral politics in some places but not others? The authors argue that in majoritarian systems, ethnic identity is most salient to electoral behavior when there are high levels of inequality between ethnic groups. Theytest this argument in the Indian...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:World politics 2016-01, Vol.68 (1), p.149-188
Main Authors: Huber, John D., Suryanarayan, Pavithra
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Class politics
Elections
Ethnic groups
Ethnic identity
Ethnicity
Huber, John
Identity politics
Intellectuals
Minority & ethnic groups
Political parties
Politics
Social classes
Voter behavior
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Summary:Why does ethnicity become a salient element of electoral politics in some places but not others? The authors argue that in majoritarian systems, ethnic identity is most salient to electoral behavior when there are high levels of inequality between ethnic groups. Theytest this argument in the Indian states and find that state-level party system ethnification is strongly correlated with economic inequality between groups, a pattern they also find in cross-national data. Theyalso show that in India, when income differences between groups increase, the groups tend to support different parties. The analysis reveals a strong class component to ethnic politics in India, underscoring the possibility that what scholars often view as identity politics can have an element of class politics in disguise.
ISSN:0043-8871
1086-3338
DOI:10.1017/S0043887115000349