The political economy of ethnic mobilisation: comparing the emergence, consolidation, and radicalisation of ethnic parties in post-colonial Sri Lanka and Malaysia

The paper focuses on the emergence, consolidation and radicalisation of ethnic parties in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. It finds that the degree of inter-ethnic violence is a function of their pattern of mass ethnic mobilisation. More specifically, ethnic parties will resort to mass violence and spark intra-state ethnic conflict when ethnic group leaders rely on critical masses of ethnic group supporters whose economic wellbeing, in turn, depends on controlling the state in order to allocate material resources to themselves.