New research shows reliance on ethnic legitimacy drives homeland claims across borders

Anne Jamison publishes new article with Nadav Shelef in Comparative Political Studies

anne_jamison
13/01/2025

New research explores why the presence of coethnics across borders sometimes leads to claims that those lands are part of the homeland. The study finds that this variation is influenced by regimes relying on ethnic logics for domestic legitimacy, which heightens the political salience of ethnicity. Using survival analysis and a case study of Croatia, the research shows that the presence of coethnics across the border significantly impacts homeland claims in contexts where ethnic legitimacy is prominent, such as autocracies, states that marginalize populations along ethnic lines, and states where the government’s legitimacy cannot be based on economic performance. LINK