HPS³ - Janina Beiser-McGrath - The role of Pan-African ideology in ethnic power-sharingWe welcome Janina Beiser-McGrath (University of London) on December 14 2023 to the HPS Seminar Series

14 December 2023

The Hamburg Political Science Seminar Series (HPS³) features international speakers presenting cutting-edge research in empirical political science and political economy.

We welcome on December 14 2023, 17:15-18:45 CET in VMP9 B528 & via Zoom

Janina Beiser-McGrath (Royal Holloway, University of London)

Title: The role of Pan-African ideology in ethnic power-sharing  (co-authored with Nils Metternich & Sam Erkiletian)

 Abstract: What are the conditions under which governments form more ethnically inclusive coalitions?  Existing contributions highlight strategic incentives as well as colonial  and pre-colonial legacies as determinants of ethnically inclusive government coalitions, but overlook the impact of political mobilization during the  decolonization period. We argue that ideological exposure and commitment to the Pan-African anticolonial movement played a vital role in African leaders' decisions to share power with other ethnic communities. We leverage novel data on African government leaders' attendance of decolonization-era Pan-African conferences through a unique collection of conference delegate lists. Accounting for rival mechanisms and country- and year-fixed effects, we find that African political elites attending Pan-African conferences form ethnically more inclusive government coalitions when becoming government leaders. Our findings imply that the ideological influence and commitment signaled by conference attendance affected political leaders' approach to form more inclusive governments and that ethnic coalitions have systematically unexplored legacies in the Pan-African decolonization movements.

The HPS³ seminars take place  in person at the UHH and are live-streamed on Zoom.

 Please find the preliminary program on the HPS³ Website.

 We invite everyone interested to attend the HPS Seminar Series and are looking forward to seeing you.