Ethnicity, Border, and State Repression

• In Event: State Repression and Human Rights II (Virtual Session)

Abstract

What explains the variation in the severity of mass state violence in ethnically heterogeneous societies? Research typically thinks that ethnic violence is driven by hatred and discrimination. Instead, we argue that the underlying problem is information and trust. When states face domestic turmoil with foreign enemies lurking to invade, border areas that share ethnic ties with neighboring enemies become an imminent threat. Repressing these ethnic communities that have the potential to collaborate with enemies helps secure the border and reduces the risk of invasion. We test this argument in the context of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in which the important role of ethnic cleansing has been vastly understudied. Using new data on peripheral provinces in China collected from county gazetteers, we propose that minority-dominant communities in a country’s border will suffer the most during the repressive campaign. This research sheds new light on ethnic-based repression targeting by linking domestic repression with foreign threats.

Authors

• Chen-Yu Lee, University of Essex

• Chuyu Liu, University of Amsterdam

• Howard Liu, University of South Carolina