Using Policy to Engineer Identity: How Singapore's National Service Shapes Ethnic and Civic Identities to Reduce the Divisive Potential of Ethnic Diversity

Abstract

Extensive research has associated ethnic diversity with a range of negative outcomes. But the relationship between diversity and these outcomes is not a simple or inevitable one. Ethnic diversity only affects outcomes when it forms the basis of social or political divisions. Why is ethnicity highly divisive in some places, but less so in others? Excellent scholarship has focused on a wide range of explanations, but the role of public policy has often been overlooked, despite its ability to shape the conditions under which ethnic groups interact. This paper examines the efficacy of Singapore’s National Service program, which is designed in part to bridge ethnic divisions in the highly diverse nation. I find considerable evidence that the program has purposefully altered the identity of conscripts in a manner that has a durable effect on their attitudes and behaviors in inter- and intra-ethnic interactions. Specifically, I find that the program is effective at constraining the divisive potential of ethnic diversity among its conscripts by reducing the salience of their ethnic identities and increasing the salience of their shared civic identities. I isolate the causal effects of the program by exploiting a natural experiment that produces exogenous variation in the intensity of the National Service treatment. An innovative measurement strategy that relies on vignettes and survey experiments provides effective measurements of identity. The analysis demonstrates the central role that policy plays in determining the salience of ethnic and civic identities, which in turn determine the outcomes of ethnic diversity. Beyond this, the findings shed important light on the conditions under which policy can effect in shaping identities and outcomes.