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The Legacy of Historical Conflict: Evidence from Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 May 2014

TIMOTHY BESLEY  and
MARTA REYNAL-QUEROL
TIMOTHY BESLEY*
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science and Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
MARTA REYNAL-QUEROL*
Affiliation:
Universitat Pompeu Fabra-ICREA and Barcelona Graduate School of Economics
*
Timothy Besley is School Professor of Economics and Political Science, London School of Economics and Political Science; also Program Member, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR); Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom (t.besley@lse.ac.uk).
Marta Reynal-Querol is Professor of Economics, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and ICREA Research Professor; also, Research Fellow, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and Research Fellow at CESifo; C/Ramon Trias Fargas 25-27, Barcelona 08005, Spain (marta.reynal@upf.edu).
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Abstract

This article exploits variation between and within countries to examine the legacy of recorded conflicts in Africa in the precolonial period between 1400 and 1700. There are three main findings. First, we show that historical conflict is correlated with a greater prevalence of postcolonial conflict. Second, historical conflict is correlated with lower levels of trust, a stronger sense of ethnic identity, and a weaker sense of national identity across countries. Third, historical conflict is negatively correlated with subsequent patterns of development looking at the pattern across grid cells within countries.

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Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 108 , Issue 2 , May 2014 , pp. 319 - 336
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2014 

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