Regionalism and Tribal Insecurity in India

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  In Virtual Poster Session: New Directions in Political Economy Virtual Poster Session

Abstract

Observers have long been ambivalent about democratic representation by parties with a regionalist orientation. We estimate the causal effect of regionalist party representation on political violence in India and find that regionalist parties that win power cause local violence, but not through increased conflict with the Center. Rather, successful regionalists tend to favor local ethnic majorities, causing heightened uncertainty for local minority groups. In particular, we show that the effect is explained entirely by electoral constituencies with significant tribal populations who have no mandated political representation, and that regionalist parties decrease local tribal persons' reported consumption of television and radio, cultural goods, and wages. Our results imply that representation by local majorities further relegates local tribal minorities to the margins of society, and that they in turn respond with organized political violence.

Author

• Arvind Magesan