The organizational ecology of ethnic cleavages: The nonlinear effects of ethnic diversity on party system fragmentation

Christopher D. Raymond

doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2014.12.001

The organizational ecology of ethnic cleavages: The nonlinear effects of ethnic diversity on party system fragmentation

Christopher D. Raymond

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Abstract

The conventional wisdom regarding party system fragmentation assumes that the effects of electoral systems and social cleavages are linear. However, recent work applying organizational ecology theories to the study of party systems has challenged the degree to which electoral system effects are linear. This paper applies such concepts to the study of social cleavages. Drawing from theories of organizational ecology and the experience of many ethnically diverse African party systems, I argue that the effects of ethnic diversity are nonlinear, with party system fragmentation increasing until reaching moderate levels of diversity before declining as diversity reaches extreme values. Examining this argument cross-nationally, the results show that accounting for nonlinearity in ethnic diversity effects significantly improves model fit.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	109-119
Number of pages	11
Journal	Electoral Studies
Volume	37
Early online date	10 Dec 2014
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2014.12.001
Publication status	Published - Mar 2015

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10.1016/j.electstud.2014.12.001

The organizational ecology of ethnic cleavages: The nonlinear effects of ethnic diversity on party system fragmentation
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Electoral Studies. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Electoral Studies, [VOL 37, March 2015] doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2014.12.001
Accepted author manuscript, 451 KB

Cite this

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title = "The organizational ecology of ethnic cleavages: The nonlinear effects of ethnic diversity on party system fragmentation",

abstract = "The conventional wisdom regarding party system fragmentation assumes that the effects of electoral systems and social cleavages are linear. However, recent work applying organizational ecology theories to the study of party systems has challenged the degree to which electoral system effects are linear. This paper applies such concepts to the study of social cleavages. Drawing from theories of organizational ecology and the experience of many ethnically diverse African party systems, I argue that the effects of ethnic diversity are nonlinear, with party system fragmentation increasing until reaching moderate levels of diversity before declining as diversity reaches extreme values. Examining this argument cross-nationally, the results show that accounting for nonlinearity in ethnic diversity effects significantly improves model fit. ",

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AB - The conventional wisdom regarding party system fragmentation assumes that the effects of electoral systems and social cleavages are linear. However, recent work applying organizational ecology theories to the study of party systems has challenged the degree to which electoral system effects are linear. This paper applies such concepts to the study of social cleavages. Drawing from theories of organizational ecology and the experience of many ethnically diverse African party systems, I argue that the effects of ethnic diversity are nonlinear, with party system fragmentation increasing until reaching moderate levels of diversity before declining as diversity reaches extreme values. Examining this argument cross-nationally, the results show that accounting for nonlinearity in ethnic diversity effects significantly improves model fit.

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The organizational ecology of ethnic cleavages: The nonlinear effects of ethnic diversity on party system fragmentation

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