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Africa and Ethnic Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2022

Dominika Koter Open the ORCID record for Dominika Koter [Opens in a new window]
Dominika Koter*
Affiliation:
Colgate University, Hamilton, NY
*
Email: dkoter@colgate.edu
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Abstract

This article provides an overview of the theoretical and empirical contributions made by scholars of ethnic politics in Africa. I first discuss the definitions and measures of ethnic politics most commonly used. I then review the main explanations of the prevalence of ethnic politics. The following sections discuss the consequences of politicized ethnicity, variation in ethnic politics, and the relationship between ethnicity and other social identities, such as national identity. I conclude with some remarks about existing gaps and promising future avenues of research.

Keywords

ethnic votingethnic cleavageethnic party
Type
State of the Field
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , March 2023 , pp. 245 - 257
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for the Study of Nationalities

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