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Cross-cutting Cleavages and Ethnic Voting: An Experimental Study of Cousinage in Mali

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2010

THAD DUNNING  and
LAUREN HARRISON
THAD DUNNING*
Affiliation:
Yale University
LAUREN HARRISON*
Affiliation:
Yale University
*
Thad Dunning is Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Yale University, P.O. Box 208301, New Haven, CT 06520-8301 (thad.dunning@yale.edu).
Lauren Harrison is a graduate of Yale College, Class of 2009.
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Abstract

Social scientists often attribute moderation of the political salience of ethnicity in ethnically diverse societies to the presence of cross-cutting cleavages—that is, to dimensions of identity or interest along which members of the same ethnic group may have diverse allegiances. Yet, estimating the causal effects of cross-cutting cleavages is difficult. In this article, we present experimental results that help explain why ethnicity has a relatively minor political role in Mali, an ethnically heterogeneous sub-Saharan African country in which ethnic identity is a poor predictor of vote choice and parties do not form along ethnic lines. We argue that the cross-cutting ties afforded by an informal institution called “cousinage” help explain the weak association between ethnicity and individual vote choice. The experimental research design we introduce may be useful in many other settings.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 104 , Issue 1 , February 2010 , pp. 21 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2010

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