Re-thinking ethnic favoritism in politics
Conventional wisdom holds that African politics operates on the basis of ethnic favoritism: Politicians in power are assumed to dole out benefits to people in their own group of origin. And many academic studies have identified individual public goods that have been distributed to particular ethnic groups in Africa, casting doubt on the fairness and inclusivity of the governments in question. But a broad new study co-authored by MIT political scientist Daniel Posner shows that the picture is more complicated than this: There is some favoritism in African politics, but it is inconsistent and limited in nature.The study looks at a range of goods distributed in six African countries since the 1960s to see if political patronage networks do form along ethnic lines, with regard to things such as education, natural resources and health benefits. The answer is that it varies in extent, from country to country, over time, and...