Explaining ethnic violence in black Africa: Independence to 1979

The underlying causes of ethnic mobilisation have been addressed by theories of cultural pluralism, ethnic competition, differential economic incorporation and modernisation. Up to now, no quantitative cross‐national study has tested all these perspectives simultaneously. The results of this study provide support for some aspects of the different theories, with the exception of the theory of differential economic incorporation. The results of the synthetic model stress the importance of examining multiple perspectives in order to avoid only partially correct representations of the historical reasons behind ethnic conflict in black Africa.