Murphy Seminar in Political Science: "Community Recognition and Violence in Peru's Internal"

Each semester The Murphy Institute sponsors a series of seminars organized by the Tulane Department of Political Science that provides an opportunity for faculty, researchers, and practitioners to present their latest research and pressing issues related to topics in political economy. Research presented covers all aspects of contemporary politics science, including comparative politics, public policy, international relations, American politics, and normative theory.  

Michael Albertus is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago. His research examines democracy and dictatorship, inequality and redistribution, property rights, and civil conflict. His most recent book, Property Without Rights: Origins and Consequences of the Property Rights Gap, published by Cambridge University Press in 2021, examines why governments that implement land reform programs only rarely grant property rights to land beneficiaries and how that impacts development and inclusion. It won honorable mentions for Best Book award by APSA's Democracy and Autocracy section and the Riker Book Award for best book in political economy. Albertus' work has been published in the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, World Politics, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Development Economics, Quarterly Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, International Studies Quarterly, and elsewhere.

ABSTRACT:

Many indigenous communities around the world that have reclaimed land access after colonial and post-colonial dispossession experience considerable property rights insecurity. This paper examines how policies to secure communal property rights through the state recognition of indigenous territorial claims impacts inter- and intra-communal violence. It does so in the context of Peru, where the state recognized thousands of indigenous community land claims during a civil war between 1980 and 2000. Using a staggered difference in difference research design and the first spatial mapping of conflict events to individual communities, I find that community recognition reduced wartime violence. The results span civilian, state, and guerrilla violence, indicating a range of pacifying effects. The findings are consistent with literature on the negative consequences of property rights uncertainty, and provide insights to guide the design of future policies that seek to recognize indigenous communities and secure their territorial land claims.

RSVP: https://tulane.campuslabs.com/engage/event/11061919 

For more information, contact the Department of Political Science at polisci@tulane.edu.