What is this?
The GROWup Public Front End offers a visualization of settlement patterns of politically active ethnic groups around the world from 1946-2009. Additionally, it provides information about ethnic groups' access to executive government power, their involvement in civil war, federal administrative units, physical elevation, nightlight data, as well as population and GDP data by area.
What is special about this?
This is the only data that codes dynamic settlement patterns. The Russian intervention in Georgia in 2009, for example, led to the expulsion of Georgians from Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a change that is reflected in the data set. Another dynamic characteristic is the change in the international system. The break-up of the Soviet Union or former Yugoslavia is an example where ethnic groups now live in new states and possibly changed their settlement patterns within these new states.
Why are these specific pieces of information provided?
Research on civil war has identified a number of factors that explain civil war. Exclusion from executive power, poor states, populated countries, and inaccessible terrain are all associated with an increased risk of civil war.
Why do I not see all groups that are listed?
Some groups, like Whites or Blacks in the United States, virtually live across the entire territory of a state. Even if there is a larger concentration in some part of the country, it was not obvious that members of these groups were completely absent from a given area. Alternatively, some groups live exclusively in cities. In either case, a group is not assigned a settlement area.
What about cities?
Big cities attract a lot of diverse people. While we have indicated whether members of a specific ethnic group live in cities they are not coded geographically.
How are ethnic groups defined?
An ethnic group is defined as an identity group that defines itself or is defined by others along linguistic, religious or racial characteristics. Examples include the Basques in Spain (mainly language), the Muslims in India (mainly religion), or Whites in South Africa (mainly race or phenotype).
What does "politically relevant" mean?
Politically relevant groups are those that either have representatives making political claims on behalf of their group or those that are singled out by the state through discrimination. Moreover, sometimes groups form ethnic alliances along different ethnic markers. Eritrean Muslims in Ethiopia before 1993 are a case in point. After Eritrean independence the Muslims split along linguistic lines and formed new politically relevant groups.
What is access to executive government power and why is it important?
If a group makes political claims it can often best advance these in government positions. Being excluded from government positions does not only hamper the effective advancements of political demands but also implies a symbolic exclusion from state power. Exclusion from government is associated with a higher risk of civil war.
Included into the executive:
- Monopoly (M) - Elite members hold monopoly power in the executive to the exclusion of members of other ethnic groups.
- Dominant (D) - Elite members of the group hold dominant power in the executive but there is limited inclusion of "token" members of other groups.
- Senior Partner (S) - Representatives of the group participate as senior partners in a formal or informal power-sharing arrangement.
- Junior Partner (J) - Representatives participate as junior partners in government.
Excluded from the executive:
- Regional Autonomy (R) - Elite members of the group have no central power but some influence at the substate level, that is, one level below the central government.
- Separatist Autonomy (s) - Regional governments controlled by representatives of an ethnic category have declared their territory to be independent from the central government.
- Powerless (P) - Elite representatives hold no political power at either the national or the regional level without being explicitly discriminated against.
- Discriminated (d) - Group members are subjected to active, intentional, and targeted discrimination, with the intent of excluding them from both regional and national power.
