Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Determinants and Measures of Ethnic Identity

国家如何以及在何种程度上能够塑造其公民的种族身份的突出性？我们知道国家可以改变公民身份的某些方面，但令人惊讶的是，我们对这种能力的界限知之甚少，特别是关于多民族国家中民族身份的突出性。本论文项目试图系统地分析国家是否可以通过精心策划的公共政策项目对公民的民族认同进行广泛而有目的的改变，其学术价值与其对民族认同研究的理论和实证贡献有关。多民族国家的大量项目要求国家减少分裂的民族身份的突出性，并促进统一的公民身份。大量证据表明，这对于减少冲突的可能性、提高提供公共产品的效率和改善治理质量等方面是必要的。国家显然有能力改变族裔特性的某些表面因素，但它们能否实现执行其发展战略的许多因素所必需的深刻和实质性的改变？通过采用一种新颖的测量策略，捕捉变化的表面和深层次的民族身份，这个项目提供了有意义的塑造民族身份的国家能力的界限的见解。此外，通过分析协调的公共政策方案以及个别公共政策的影响，研究将确定哪些机制是最有效的塑造不同层次的显着性。这为多民族国家正在推行的许多发展战略的基本可行性提供了见解。考察国家行为对民族认同的显著性的影响需要：（1）有效的、有理论基础的民族认同测量;（2）能够隔离国家行为的影响。族裔认同是动态的、多层次的，要求衡量战略涵盖其多个方面。然而，社会期望偏差，防止问种族身份的直接问题，因为反应可能反映社会规范，而不是实际的偏好。因此，该项目依赖于间接措施，这些措施可以捕捉到族裔认同的不同因素在行为和态度上的明显表现。该研究将社会心理学和行为经济学中开发的几种创新技术整合到测量策略中。主要工具是一个嵌入式实验的调查。该项目还包括采访、实验游戏来衡量有条件信任对种族认同的影响，以及社交网络数据来捕捉种族偏好的网络表现。 国家行为对民族认同的影响在两个层面上进行评估。第一个是通过利用新加坡和马来西亚槟榔屿之间的自然实验，在宏观层面上捕捉国家行动的总体影响。这两个领土在人口上非常相似，作为一个联合政治实体被统治了世纪，独立后早期的发展动态也非常相似。然而，自1970年两个地区发生重大种族冲突以来，他们的政治环境发生了根本性的分歧。在新加坡，通过协调一致的公共政策努力和在政治竞争中不存在族裔成分，族裔认同一直在瓦解。作为马来西亚的一个领土，槟榔屿有一个广泛的联邦级公共政策计划，不断动员和政治化的种族身份外生强加给它，因此这两个种族异质性的领土几乎相同的起点已经超过40年来受到截然不同的国家行动。通过研究民族认同如何在两国之间产生分歧，更重要的是，尽管存在差别待遇，但它如何保持不变，我们对民族认同的性质及其对国家行为的广泛反应产生了重要的见解。第二个处理层次审查个别公共政策的影响，重点是教育政策和国家服务。关于教育政策，该项目审查学校类型对族裔特性的影响。国民服务的效果是通过马来西亚青年之间的种族认同的差异来衡量的，这些青年是通过抽签被选中完成三个月的综合国民服务的，而那些同龄的同龄人没有被选中。这些测试提供了深入了解的接触假设和一般的可行性，改变的突出性和性质的族裔身份，通过促进建设性的接触之间的组成群体。通过收集个人层面的数据，研究将捕捉异质性的国家行动的治疗效果，从而允许政策和个人属性之间的相互作用的推论。该项目的广泛影响与其对外交政策和发展界的重要性有关。种族多样性不仅给后殖民和冲突后国家带来挑战，也给发达国家带来挑战。大量资源用于公共政策方案，以减少族裔身份的突出性并塑造其表达方式。然而，很少有系统的研究表明，这些项目从根本上是可行的。通过研究不同的国家行为对民族认同的多个要素的影响，该项目提供了洞察国家塑造民族认同的能力的可能性和局限性。

How and to what extent can states shape the salience of their citizens' ethnic identities? We know that states can change some aspects of their citizens' identities, but we know surprisingly little about the bounds of this capacity, in particular regarding the salience of ethnic identity in multiethnic states. This dissertation project is an attempt to systematically analyze whether states can make extensive and purposeful changes to the ethnic identities of their citizens through orchestrated public policy programs.The intellectual merit of this project is associated with its theoretical and empirical contributions to the study of ethnic identity. A large number of projects in multiethnic states require the state to reduce the salience of divisive ethnic identities and foster unifying civil identities. Extensive evidence demonstrates that this is necessary for such things as reducing the potential for conflict, increasing the efficiency of public goods provision, and improving the quality of governance. States clearly have the capacity to change some superficial elements of ethnic identity, but can they effect deep and substantive change, as may be necessary to execute many elements of their development strategies? By employing a novel measurement strategy that captures change at superficial and deep-seated levels of ethnic identity, this project offers insights into the bounds of state capacity to meaningfully shape ethnic identity. Furthermore, by analyzing the effects of coordinated public policy programs as well as individual public policies, the research will determine which mechanisms are most effective at shaping the different levels of salience. This provides insights into the fundamental feasibility of many developmental strategies being pursued in multiethnic states. Examining the effects of the state actions on the salience of ethnic identity requires 1) an effective and theoretically grounded measure of ethnic identity and 2) an ability to isolate the effects of state actions. Ethnic identity is dynamic and multi-layered, requiring that the measurement strategy captures its multiple facets. Social desirability bias, however, prevents asking direct questions on ethnic identity, as responses may reflect social norms rather than actual preferences. Thus the project relies on indirect measures that capture observable behavioral and attitudinal manifestations of different elements of ethnic identity. The research integrates several innovative techniques developed in social psychology and behavioral economics into the measurement strategy. The primary instrument is a survey with embedded experiments. The project also includes interviews, experimental games to measure how conditional trust is on ethnic identity, and social networking data to capture the network manifestations of ethnic preferences. The effect of state actions on ethnic identity is assessed at two levels. The first captures the aggregate effects of state actions at the macro level by exploiting a natural experiment between Singapore and the Malaysian Island of Penang. These two territories are highly similar demographically, were ruled as a joint political entity for over one century, and had highly similar early post-independence developmental dynamics. Yet their political environments fundamentally diverged starting in 1970 following significant ethnic conflict in both territories. Ethnic identity in Singapore was consistently demobilized through concerted public policy efforts and the absence of an ethnic component in political competition. As a territory of Malaysia, Penang had an extensive federal-level public policy program that consistently mobilized and politicized ethnic identity exogenously imposed on it. Thus these two ethnically heterogeneous territories with nearly identical starting positions have been subject to vastly different state actions for over forty years. By examining how ethnic identity has diverged between the two countries and - more importantly - how it has remained the same despite the differential treatment, we generate important insights into the nature of ethnic identity and its broad responsiveness to state actions. The second treatment level examines the effect of individual public policies, focusing on education policy and national service. Regarding education policy, the project examines the effect of school type on ethnic identity. The effect of national service is measured via differences in ethnic identity between Malaysian youth who were selected by lottery to complete a three month integrated national service and those of the same age cohort who were not selected. These tests provide insight into the contact hypothesis and the general feasibility of altering the salience and nature of ethnic identity through fostering constructive contact between constituent groups. By collecting individual level data, the research will capture the heterogeneous treatment effects of state actions, and thus permit inferences on the interaction between policy and individual attributes. The broader impact of the project is associated with its importance to the foreign policy and development communities. Ethnic diversity provides challenges not only to post-colonial and post-conflict states, but to developed states as well. Significant resources are spent on public policy programs designed to reduce the salience of ethnic identities and shape their expressions. However, little systematic research exists to demonstrate that these are fundamentally feasible projects. By examining the effect of different state actions on multiple elements of ethnic identity, this project provides insight into the possibilities and limitations of the state's ability to shape ethnic identity.