The Contagion of Political Conflict in Africa and the World

Abstract

In this article we seek to specify and measure the paths by which domestic political conflict can diffuse across state boundaries. By focusing on data for Africa and the world from 1962 to 1966 and 1971 to 1975 we have found that receptivity to outside political conflict is contingent upon a recent history of domestic strife and will increase if a society is polarized among a few contending groups. In those countries where the mass media come under central political control, a greater level of media development will slow the spread of conflict by offering political elites an important means by which to control the information available about outside discord.