The contentious politics of the census in consociational democracies

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This project investigates the politics of the census in societies that are deeply divided along ethnic, religious or linguistic lines, addressing some of the core themes in the RCUK Cross-Council Research Programme on Global Uncertainties.In societies that are emerging from violent conflict between different ethnic, religious or linguistic groups, peace is often maintained through an agreement that these groups will share power. One of the main ways in which agreement on such power sharing is reached is through the proportional allocation of roles in government, the civil service, the military and the police to members of the groups who have been in conflict. For example, the peace agreement might specify that a certain proportion of the parliament is reserved for members of a particular minority group. In order to assess what such proportionality looks like, though, an accurate census is required. The process of conducting a census in this context can be particularly challenging, especially when group leaders know that their share of political power is partly dependent on the results. This can result in intense debates about how census questions are worded, and the conduct of the census itself may be affected by campaigns to get respondents to answer questions in particular ways, in the belief that this will influence their political representation.This aspect of the politics of the census in deeply divided societies has not been studied in significant depth by social scientists, and as a result we know little about the relationship between the design of political institutions in these societies and the likelihood of the census becoming the subject of contentious political debates. This research project will address this lack of knowledge through examining the politics of the census in four deeply divided societies: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, Kenya and Lebanon. In designing and conducting the project, I will work with policy-makers and practitioners in order to generate knowledge about how contentious political debates about the census in deeply divided societies can be mitigated, thus contributing to peaceful relations between groups that have previously been in conflict.I will achieve this by conducting extensive fieldwork, involving focus groups and interviews with key policy-makers and civil society representatives in the four case-study countries as well as at international organisations with responsibility for setting census standards, including the United Nations Statistics Division and Eurostat. A workshop held in Brussels during the research design phase of the project will allow policy-makers and members of civil society with an interest in the census to have an input into the design of the project, and knowledge co-production will continue into the analysis phase through dialogue with practitioners. Following the successful conclusion of the fieldwork, outputs will include traditional academic publications including a book and journal articles, but also more accessible policy summaries and articles for online media outlets. The findings of the research will also be disseminated through a further public engagement event in Brussels.The project will also contribute to my own development as a researcher. As part of the proposed project, I will undertake training in focus group methods, public engagement and interaction with the media. I will also build links with established researchers across a number of disciplines, including political science, geography and anthropology. Completion of the project will help to establish me as a leading researcher into the politics of the census and of deeply divided societies. The experience gained from conducting the research will enable me to make informed contributions to public debate on these topics, and also to broaden the range of teaching that I offer to students in the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham.