Explaining the Demand for Sovereignty

Sambanis, Nicholas ; Milanovic, Branko

关键词: ABSOLUTE TERMS;    ADJACENT REGIONS;    ADMINISTRATIVE REGION;    ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONS;    AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-5888
RP-ID  :  WPS5888

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Why do groups want to secede and whereare we most likely to see demands for self-determination?This paper proposes an economic explanation whereby atradeoff between income and sovereignty implies that, otherthings being equal, richer regions are more likely to wantmore autonomy and conflict arises due to a disparity betweendesired and actual levels of sovereignty. The authorsprovide simple empirical tests using new data collected atthe level of second-tier administrative subdivisions in 48decentralized countries. They find a positive associationbetween, on the one hand, relative regional income, regionalpopulation share, natural resource endowment, and regionalinter-personal inequality and, on the other hand, observedsovereignty levels. Ethnically distinct regions have lowersovereignty, but this association is only conditional oncontrolling for the interactive effects between ethnicdistinctiveness and regional inter-personal inequality.