Politics is Local: Ethnoreligious Dynamics under the Microscope

Abstract

All of the pieces in this volume are strong examples of detailed, local research at the micro-level into city politics. They thus provide a number of insights into the dynamics of ethnic politics that tend to be missed by studies that focus on macro-level entities such as states and nations. First, these pieces demonstrate the strong influence of informal institutions in local settings. Second, strong variations in ethnic dynamics between cities with similar structural conditions illustrate the path-dependent nature of politics in local settings. These particularities emerge from informal institutions such as local network configurations and norms, local discourses, and the influence of past local events. Third, structural factors such as demographics, formal local governance institutions, and institutional relations between a mixed city and the central government provide background conditions to these influences that will enable or constrain the actions of groups. Finally, groups compete at the local level not simply for material resources such as land and housing, but also over linguistic, cultural, and symbolic resources. Each of these areas provides a promising avenue for future research.