Welcome

imageMy research explores the micro-level dynamics of mass participation in civil violence.  A large portion of this work uses agent-based computational modeling in conjunction with empirical data.  Questions that motivate my research include the following:

  • What explains variation in the scale and duration of interethnic violence?  Why do some episodes of violence remain localized and contained, while others spread and endure?
  • How do ethnic entrepreneurs compel reluctant or moderate group members to participate in violence against nominal rivals?  Under what conditions are they successful?
  • How do individuals and groups learn from events affecting trans-border ethnic kin? Do ethnic minorities internalize these lessons differently from members of ethnic majorities?    
  • How does ethnicity interact with resource scarcity and resource abundance to structure incentives and shape participation in civil violence? 
  • Why does sensationalism, in the form of violence-promoting rumors, emerge and spread? Why do these rumors fail to lose credibility over time? 
  • Does associational membership that cuts across ethnic lines reduce the incidence of ethnic violence? Under what conditions does a high level of interethnic trust exist in the absence of similarly high levels of associational membership?   High levels of membership in the absence of high trust? 
Curriculum Vitae 
Research

Peer Reviewed Papers

  • [13] "Learning from Adversity: Ethnic Ties and Ethnic Domination" Under Review.  [pdf]
  • [12] "Adaptive Agents, Political Institutions, and Civic Traditions: An Exercise in Docking and Beyond" with Dan Miodownik and Brit Cartrite.  Under Review.  [pdf]
  • [11] “Voting in Africa: Ethnic, Economic, or Strategic"  with Michael Bratton.  Under Review.  [pdf
  • [10] "Revisiting the Relationship between Ethnic MInority Rule and Civil War" with Dan Miodownik.  Under Review.  [pdf]
  • [09] “Rumor Dynamics in Ethnic Violence” with James Kuklinski and Michael Findley. Under Review.  [pdf]
  • [08] "Ethnic Polarization, Ethnic Salience, and Civil War" with Dan Miodownik.  Forthcoming. Journal of Conflict Resolution (February 2009) [pdf]
  • [07] "Simulating Closed Regimes Using Agent-Based Models" with Rick Riolo and David Backer. Forthcoming, Complexity  (August 2008).  [pdf]
  • [06] "REsCape: An Agent-Based Framework for Modeling Resources, Ethnicity, and Conflict” with Dan Miodownik and Jonas Nart, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 11:2 (March 2008).  [html]
  • [05] “Ethnic Norms and Interethnic Violence: Accounting for Mass Participation in the Rwandan Genocide” Journal of Peace Research 43:6 (November 2006): 651-669.  [pdf]
  • [04] “Blood, Diamonds, and Taxes: Lootable Wealth and Political Order in Sub-Saharan Africa” with Richard Snyder,  Journal of Conflict Resolution 49:4 (August 2005): 563-597.  [pdf]
  • [03] “Adaptive Agents, Political Institutions, and Civic Traditions in Modern Italy” Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 6:4 (October 2003).  [html]
  • [02] “Announcement, Credibility, and Turnout in Democratic Rebellions” with Michael Ross, Journal of Conflict Resolution 47:3 (June 2003): 40-366.  [pdf]
  • [01] “Localized Ethnic Conflict and Genocide: Accounting for Differences in Rwanda and Burundi” with David Backer,  Journal of Conflict Resolution 44:3 (June 2000): 283-307. [pdf]

Book Chapters

  • “Agent Based Models in the Study of Ethnic Norms and Interethnic Violence” in Neil Harrison (ed.) Complexity in World Politics: Concepts and Methods of a New Paradigm. SUNY Press (2006).

Working Papers

  • [4]   “Social Capital and Political Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa.” with David Backer, Afrobarometer Working Paper No. 90 (2007).
  • [3] “Agent Based Models in the Study of Intra-State Violence” with Rick Riolo, Paper prepared for the Virginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center Workshop on Human Behavioral Modeling,  January 4-5 (2005).
  • [2] “A Hybrid Model of Decision-Making in Closed Political Regimes” with Rick Riolo and David Backer, Proceedings of Workshop on Social Agents: Ecology, Exchange, and Evolution,  Gleacher Center, University of Chicago, October 11-12 (2002). [pdf]
  • [1] “Localized Ethnic Conflict and Genocide: Accounting for Differences in Rwanda and Burundi”
    with David Backer,  Santa Fe Institute Working Paper 99-07-053 (1999).

Projects

Upcoming Conferences

  • "Ethnic Polarization, Ethnic Salience, and Civil War"
    Disaggregating Civil War: Democracy, Ethnicity and Intervention, ETH, Zurich, September 2008
Contact
bhavnani@msu.edu
tel:  517 353 7859
fax: 517 432 1091