Assignment task:
A large body of work in comparative politics studies ethnic divisions as a potential cause of various political phenomena. What can we conclude about the explanatory power of ethnicity? a. Although ethnicity may be a strong identity for many individuals, no empirical work has shown that ethnic divisions affect political preferences and behavior. b. Scholars show that because ethnicity is determined by descent-based attributes that are difficult to change, ethnic divisions increase violence and undermine democratic stability. c. Scholars have identified two properties of ethnic identities that cause social conflicts: constrained changes and visibility. Empirical findings show that these properties harm economic development. d. Although ethnic identities may be challenging to operationalize, salient ethnic divisions may trigger motivated reasoning, affecting how people process information and make political decisions.