Politicized Ethnicity ― A Comparative Perspective

"Why is ethnic identity an important factor in politics in some countries but not in others? This book offers a rigorous comparative analysis of five cases in three regions - Kenya, Tanzania, Bolivia, Peru, and the United States - to demonstrate how colonial administrative rule, access to resources, nation building and language policies, as well as political entrepreneurs contribute to the politicization of ethnicity. The analytical framework in this book identifies how ethnic identities are transformed into socially salient ethnic identities, and how some of these socially salient ethnic identities are used for political mobilization. Long-run factors affecting ethnicity politicization are colonial administrative rule and access to resources. Actions bypolitical entrepreneurs, in contrast, play a major role in short-run, intense bursts of politicized ethnicity. Nation-building policies have the potential to reduce ethnicity politicization and to work towards an inclusive society"--

Anke Weber holds a PhD in political science from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and has worked for the World Bank, the JRC - European Commission, and Eurostat. She conducted extensive field work in Kenya and Tanzania and taught in Rwanda. Her research focuses on political salience of ethnicity, relations between ethnic diversity and education in Africa, and comparative indicators.
Wesley Hiers holds a PhD from UCLA, USA. He was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Pittsburgh, USA, from 2013 to 2015, and is now a Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology at Oberlin College, USA. His research interests lie at the intersection of political sociology, historical sociology, and race/ethnicity.
Anaid Flesken holds a PhD from the University of Exeter, UK. She was a postdoctoral researcher at GIGA Hamburg, Germany, supported by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, before taking up an ESRC Fellowship at the University of Bristol, UK. Her principal research interest lies in the interplay between political and social processes in ethnically diverse societies.