Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-hvd4g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-31T02:07:34.085Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Does Combat Experience Foster Organizational Skill? Evidence from Ethnic Cleansing during the Partition of South Asia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2012

SAUMITRA JHA  and
STEVEN WILKINSON
SAUMITRA JHA*
Affiliation:
Stanford University
STEVEN WILKINSON*
Affiliation:
Yale University
*
Saumitra Jha is Assistant Professor of Political Economy, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA 94305 ([email protected]).
Steven Wilkinson is Nilekani Professor of India and South Asian Studies and Professor of Political Science, Yale University, 115 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06520 ([email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Can combat experience foster organizational skills that engender political collective action? We use the arbitrary assignment of troops to combat in World War II to identify the effect of combat experience on two channels that change local ethnic composition and future political control: ethnic cleansing and co-ethnic immigration. During the Partition of South Asia, we find that ethnically mixed districts whose veterans were exposed to greater combat exhibited greater co-ethnic immigration and minority ethnic cleansing, with minority out-migration achieved with lower loss-of-life. Further, where ethnic groups had been in complementary economic roles or the minority received greater combat experience, there was less ethnic cleansing. We interpret these results as reflecting the strategic role of ethnic cleansing and co-ethnic immigration by groups seeking political control and the role of combat experience in enhancing organizational skills at credibly threatening violence and engaging in collective action.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 106 , Issue 4 , November 2012 , pp. 883 - 907
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Acemoglu, Daron, and Robinson, James A.. 2000. “Why Did the West Extend the Franchise? Democracy, Inequality and Growth in Historical Perspective.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 67: 585–608.Google Scholar
Acemoglu, Daron, and Robinson, James A.. 2005. Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aiyar, Swarna. 1998. “‘August Anarchy’: The Partition Massacres in Punjab, 1947.” In Freedom, Trauma, Continuities: Northern India and Independence, eds. Low, D. A. and Brested, Howard. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press, 15–38.Google Scholar
Alesina, Alberto, Spolaore, Enrico, and Wacziarg, Romain. 2005. Trade, Growth and the Size of Countries. In Handbook of Economic Growth, eds. Aghion, Phillippe and Durlauf, Steven. Amsterdam: North-Holland.Google Scholar
Angrist, Joshua. 1990. “Lifetime Earnings and the Vietnam Era Draft Lottery: Evidence from Social Security Administrative Records.” American Economic Review 80 (3): 313–36.Google Scholar
Baldwin, Kate, and Huber, John. 2010. “Economic versus Cultural Differences: Forms of Ethnic Diversity and Public Goods Provision.” American Political Science Review 104 (4): 644–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banerjee, Abhijit, and Iyer, Lakshmi. 2005 “History, Institutions and Economic Performance: The Legacy of Colonial Land Tenure Systems in India.” American Economic Review 95 (4): 1190–1213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banerjee, Abhijit, Iyer, Lakshmi, and Somanathan, Rohini. 2008 “Public Action for Public Goods.” In Handbook of Development Economics, Vol. 4, eds. Schultz, T. Paul and Strauss, John. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Beckham, J.C., Moore, S.D., and Reynolds, V.. 2000 “Interpersonal Hostility and Violence in Vietnam Combat Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Review of Theoretical Models and Empirical Evidence.” Aggression and Violent Behavior 5, 451–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellows, John, and Miguel, Edward. 2008. “War and Local Collective Action in Sierra Leone.” December 2008. University of California, Berkeley: Mimeo.Google Scholar
Besley, Timothy, and Persson, Torsten. 2010. “State Capacity, Conflict and Development.” Econometrica 78 (1): 1–34.Google Scholar
Bharadwaj, Prashant, Khwaja, Asim, and Mian, Atif. 2008a. “The Big March: Migratory Flows after the Partition of India.” Economic and Political Weekly 43 (35): 39–49.Google Scholar
Bharadwaj, Prashant, Khwaja, Asim, and Mian, Atif. 2008b. “The Partition of India: Demographic Consequences.” Harvard Kennedy School, Unpublished manuscript.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blattman, Christopher. 2009. “From Violence to Voting: War and Political Participation in Uganda.” American Political Science Review 103 (2): 231–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boix, Carles. 2003. Democracy and Redistribution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brass, Paul. 2003. “The Partition of India and Redistributive Genocide in the Punjab 1946–47.” Journal of Genocide Research 5 (1): 71–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, Judith. 1991. Gandhi: Prisoner of Hope. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Chandrasekaran, Rajiv. 2006. Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Chapman, Thomas, and Roeder, Philip G.. 2007. “Partition as a Solution to Wars of Nationalism: The Importance of Institutions.” American Political Science Review 101 (4): 677–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Copland, Ian. 1988. “The Further Shores of Partition: Ethnic Cleansing in Rajasthan 1947.” Past and Present 19 (160): 657–704.Google Scholar
Copland, Ian. 2002 “The Master and the Maharajas: The Sikh Princes and the East Punjab Massacres of 1947.” Modern Asian Studies 36 (3): 657–704.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa, Dora, and Kahn, Matthew. 2005. “Forging a New Identity: The Costs and Benefits of Diversity in Civil War for Black Slaves and Freemen.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mimeo.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Damodaran, Vinita. 1992. Broken Promises: Popular Protest, Indian Nationalism and the Congress Party in Bihar 1935–1946. Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Downes, Alexander B. 2001. “The Holy Land Divided: Defending Partition as a Solution to Ethnic Wars.” Security Studies 10 (4): 58–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engels, Friedrich, and Marx, Karl. 1848. The Communist Manifesto.Google Scholar
Fearon, James D. 1995. “Rationalist Explanations for War,” International Organization 49 (3): 379–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fearon, James D. 1998. “Commitment Problems and the Spread of Ethnic Conflict.” In The International Spread of Ethnic Conflict, eds. Lake, David and Rothschild, Donald. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 107–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fearon, James D., and Laitin, David D.. 2003. “Ethnicity, Insurgency and Civil War.” American Political Science Review 97 (1): 75–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galiani, Sebastian, Rossi, Martin, and Schargrodsky, Ernesto. 2010. “Conscription and Crime: Evidence from the Argentive Draft Lottery,” Technical Report. Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gash, Norman. 1977. “After Waterloo: British Society and the Legacy of the Napoleonic Wars.” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 28: 145–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grewal, J.S. 1999. The Sikhs of the Punjab. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hill, K., Seltzer, W., Leaning, J., Malik, S.J., and Russell, S.S.. 2008. “The Demographic Impact of Partition in the Punjab in 1947.” Population Studies 62 (2): 155–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Humphreys, Macartan, and Weinstein, Jeremy M.. 2007. “Demobilization and Reintegration.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 51: 531–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Indian Army Reorganization Committee. 1945. “Reorganization of the Army and Air Forces in India: Report of a Committee Set Up by His Excellency the Commander in Chief in India.” Cariappa Articles V24. New Delhi: National Archives of India.Google Scholar
Jha, Saumitra. 2008. “Trade, Institutions and Religious Tolerance: Evidence from India.” GSB Research Article 2004. Stanford, CA: Stanford Graduate School of Business.Google Scholar
Jha, Saumitra, and Wilkinson, Steven. N.d. “The Aftermath of War: Veterans and Revolutionary Institutional Change.” Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Kamtekar, Indivar, 1988. “The End of the Colonial State in India 1942–47.” Ph.D. diss., Cambridge University.Google Scholar
Kasara, Kimuli. 2010. “Using a Colonial Legacy to Estimate the Effect of Ethnic Segregation on Violence.” Columbia University. Mimeo.Google Scholar
Kaufmann, Chaim. 1996. “Possible and Impossible Solutions to Ethnic Conflict.” International Security 20 (4): 136–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khan, Yasmin. 2007. The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Khosla, G.D. [1951] 1991. Stern Reckoning: A Survey of the Events Leading up to and Following the Partition of India. New Delhi: Voice of India.Google Scholar
MacDonald, Charles B. 1997. A Time for Trumpets: The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge. New York: Harper Perennial.Google Scholar
Maguen, Shira, Metzler, Thomas J., Litz, Brett T., Seal, Karen H., Knight, Sara J., and Marmar, Charles R.. 2009. “The Impact of Killing in War on Mental Health Symptoms and Related Functioning.” Journal of Traumatic Stress 22 (5): 435–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mansergh, Nicholas. 1976. The Transfer of Power 1942–47. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Mason, Philip. 1974. A Matter of Honour: An Account of the Indian Army, Its Officers and Its Men. London: Jonathan Cape.Google Scholar
McDonald, Forrest. 1951. “The Relation of the French Peasant Veterans of the American Revolution to the Fall of Feudalism in France.” Agricultural History 25 (4): 151–61.Google Scholar
Menezes, S.L. 1993. Fidelity and Honour: The Indian Army from the Seventeenth to the Twenty-first Century. New Delhi: Viking.Google Scholar
Miguel, Edward, Satyanath, Shanker, and Sergenti, Ernest. 2004. “Economic Shocks and Civil Conflict: An Instrumental Variables Approach.” Journal of Political Economy 112 (4): 725–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mueller, John. 2000. “The Banality of ‘Ethnic War’.” International Security 25 (1): 42–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muir, Rory. 2000. Tactics and the Experiences of Battle in the Age of Napoleon. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
North, Douglass, Wallis, John, and Weingast, Barry. 2009. Violence and Social Orders: A Conceptual Framework for Interpreting Recorded Human History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Hanlon, Michael E., and Joseph, Edward P.. 2007. “The Case for Soft Partition in Iraq.” Brookings Analysis Article 12.Google Scholar
Petersen, Roger. 2001. Resistance and Rebellion: Lessons from Eastern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Posen, Barry. 1993. “The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict.” Survival (1): 27–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, James S. 2010. Learning under Fire: The 112th Cavalry Regiment in World War II. College Station, TX: Texas A&M Press.Google Scholar
Powell, Robert. 2006. “War as a Commitment Problem.” International Organization 60: 169–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prasad, Bisheshwar, ed. 1954. Official History of the Indian Armed Forces in the Second World War, 1939–45, Vols. I–XVII. Delhi: Combined Inter-services Historical Section (India and Pakistan).Google Scholar
Przeworski, Adam. 2007. “Conquered or Granted? A History of Suffrage Extensions.” New York University: Mimeo.Google Scholar
Sambanis, Nicholas, and Schulhofer-Wohl, Jonah. 2009. “What's in a Line? Is Partition a Solution to Civil War?” International Security 34 (2): 82–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheve, Ken and Stasavage, David. 2010 “The Conscription of Wealth: Mass Warfare and the Demand for Progressive Taxation,” International Organization 64 (4): 528–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Streets, Heather. 2004. Martial Races: The Military, Race and Masculinity in British Imperial Culture. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Talbot, Ian, and Singh, Gurharpal. 2009. The Partition of India. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Talib, S. Gurcharan Singh. [1950] 1991. Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947. New Delhi: Voice of India.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, Steven. 2010. “Making India's Military Modern: The Indian Army and ‘Martial Races’ before and after Independence.” Yale University. Mimeo.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, Steven I. 2004. Votes and Violence: Electoral Competition and Ethnic Riots in India. Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yatchew, Adonis. 2003. Semiparametric Regression for the Applied Econometrician. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Jha Supplementary Material

Appendix

Download Jha Supplementary Material(File)
File 20.8 KB
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.