Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: The Struggle over Citizenship in Liberia and Côte D'Ivoire.

在整个非洲，关于公民身份的冲突导致争端、骚乱、暴力，在某些情况下甚至是内战。这些争端的核心是土著群体与定居者之间的关系，土著群体声称对土地拥有所有权，而定居者被土著群体污蔑为外国人。这项研究问：为什么土著群体和定居者之间的冲突发生在一些地方，而不是在其他地方？ 与那些认为经济冲击、文化和宗教差异或移民水平解释了定居者和土著群体之间冲突的研究相反，本项目探讨了当地机构的政治影响。特别是，地方产权制度在非洲定居者和土著群体之间关于公民身份的冲突中发挥了什么作用？该项目将利用利比里亚和科特迪瓦边境地区的定性和定量数据，探讨法律上和事实上的公民身份以及正式和习惯权利制度的实例。 它将侧重于制度改革改变地方权力平衡的方式，社会团体对国家提出要求的方式，以及这如何影响冲突的程度。 该研究还将评估其他解释公民身份冲突的理论的有效性，包括宗教分裂和经济冲击。 该项目为关于冲突微观基础的新文献作出贡献，以便了解目前争端的逻辑，并制定解决和预防未来暴力的方法。 它还借鉴了关于公民身份的文献以及国家一级的公民权利可能不同于地方一级的公民权利的想法。 此外，对产权制度的关注促成了一个关于非正式制度的新兴工作，这一工作非常重要，但众所周知，很难系统地分析。 最后，这项研究有助于在经济学和人类学的成本和收益的法定和习惯的土地保有制度的辩论。 通过探讨土地保有制度的政治影响，这项研究改变了经济辩论，不考虑土地保有制度对社会公平的影响，在利比里亚-科特迪瓦边境地区，改革产权制度，以及宗教差异和经济困难的水平变化提供了一个机会，解释为什么冲突是高的一些社区，而不是在其他。2009年任命的利比里亚土地委员会正在设计一项全面的产权改革，承诺采取基于权利的办法。 利比里亚从14年内战中恢复过来，其自然资源增加了改革的重要性。 相反，在科特迪瓦，1998年的土地改革将习惯做法纳入法律，同时提倡使用地契，并规定非科特迪瓦公民拥有农村土地为非法。在国家从政治危机中恢复并处理国内流离失所者返回问题时，执法并不普遍。在这两个国家，中央政府承认的公民身份并不完全决定获得地方权利的机会，这取决于地点，可能因族裔身份而异，这项研究旨在对侧重于冲突后过渡和发展的政策辩论产生更广泛的影响。 通过探讨产权改革的影响，这项研究有助于制定促进善治、法治和过渡司法的政策。与当地和国际非政府组织的合作将建设利比里亚和科特迪瓦民间社会的研究能力，并提供一种手段，不仅向非政府组织和政府，而且向最直接受冲突影响的公民传播这项研究。

Across Africa, conflict over citizenship leads to disputes, riots, violence, and in some cases civil war. At the center of these disputes is the relationship between indigenous groups, who make claims to land, and settlers, who are stigmatized as foreigners by indigenous groups. This research asks: why does conflict between indigenous groups and settlers occur in some localities and not in others? In contrast to research that suggests that economic shocks, cultural and religious differences, or levels of migration explain conflict between settlers and indigenous groups, this project explores the political implications of local institutions. In particular, what role do local property rights regimes play in shaping conflicts over citizenship between settlers and indigenous groups in Africa?This project will employ qualitative and quantitative data from the border region of Liberia and Côte D'Ivoire to explore instances of both de jure and de facto citizenship and formal and customary rights regimes. It will focus on the ways that institutional reforms change the balance of local power, the way the social groups make demands on the state, and how this affects levels of conflict. The research will also assess the validity of other theories explaining conflict over citizenship, including religious cleavages and economic shocks. This project contributes to the emerging literature on the micro-foundations of conflict in order to understand the logic of ongoing disputes and to develop ways to solve and to prevent violence in the future. It also builds on literature on citizenship and the idea that citizenship rights at the national level may be different than those at the local level. In addition, the focus on property rights institutions contributes to an emerging body of work on informal institutions, vastly important, but notoriously difficult to analyze systematically. Finally, this research contributes to a debate in economics and anthropology on the costs and benefits of statutory and customary land tenure institutions. By exploring the political effects of land tenure regimes, this research transforms economic debates that do not take into account the impact of land tenure on social equity.In the Liberian-Ivorian border region, reforms to property rights regimes, as well as variation in the levels of religious differences and economic hardship provide an opportunity to explain why conflict is high in some communities and not in others. Appointed in 2009, the Liberian Land Commission is designing an overarching property rights reform that promises a rights-based approach. Liberia's recovery from 14 years of civil war and its natural resources increase the stakes of reform. In contrast, in Côte D'Ivoire, the 1998 Land Reform enshrined customary practice in law while promoting the use of deeds and making it illegal for non-Ivorian citizens to own rural land. Enforcement is not universal as the state recovers from political crisis and deals with the return of Internally Displaced People (IDPs). In both countries, citizenship recognized by the central government does not fully determine access to local rights, which, depending on the location, can vary according to ethnic identity.This research aims to have a broader impact on policy debates focusing on post-conflict transition and development. By exploring the effects of property rights reform, this research contributes to the development of policies that promote good governance, the rule of law and transitional justice. Collaborative work with local and international NGOs will build the research capacity of Liberian and Ivorian civil society and provide a means of disseminating this study to not only NGOs and governments, but the citizens most directly affected by conflict.