Nation-Building and Conflict in Modern Africa

28 Pages Posted: 30 Sep 2011

See all articles by Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay

Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD)

Elliott D. Green

London School of Economics

Date Written: June 2011

Abstract

Nation-building has long been seen as an important focus for postcolonial African governments. However, up until now there has been no empirical analysis of either the origins or consequences of these policies. Here we compile an original dataset measuring nine different types of nation-building policies. Using Ordinary Least Squares regressions, we first show that nation-building policies are correlated with larger states and British colonialism. We then use logistic regressions to test the effect of such policies on civil wars using two different datasets of civil wars, and find no evidence that such policies have helped to prevent civil war.

JEL Classification: C5, M5

Suggested Citation

Bandyopadhyay, Sanghamitra and Green, Elliott D., Nation-Building and Conflict in Modern Africa (June 2011). LSE STICERD Research Paper No. EOPP026, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1935772

Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay (Contact Author)

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD) ( email )

Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

Elliott D. Green

London School of Economics ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://personal.lse.ac.uk/greened/

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