The Political Sources of Religious Identification: Evidence from the Burkina Faso–Côte d’Ivoire Border

Flashcards covering key concepts, methodology, findings, and explanations from the lecture notes titled 'The Political Sources of Religious Identification: Evidence from the Burkina Faso–Côte d’Ivoire Border'.

What is the central question explored in 'The Political Sources of Religious Identification'?

Under what conditions does religion become a salient social identity?

Which two West African countries' border region did McCauley and Posner use for their study?

Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire.

What methodological approach did the authors use to study the salience of religious attachment?

They exploited Africa's arbitrary borders as a source of causal leverage, approximating a natural experiment.

What did the study primarily find about individuals living on the Côte d’Ivoire side of the border compared to the Burkina Faso side?

They were nearly three times as likely to rank religion as their most important social identity.

What key political event is identified as the main driver for increased religious salience in Côte d’Ivoire?

The politicization of religion during Côte d’Ivoire’s recent civil conflict.

Why can the boundaries between present-day African countries be considered 'as-if random' for research purposes?

They were drawn by colonial officials with little knowledge of the people they were bisecting, making the assignment to different political contexts essentially random.

What advantage does studying populations living very close to an arbitrary border offer for research?

It allows researchers to hold constant many social, economic, cultural, and historical factors while varying the national political environment.

According to the study, what type of explanations did the authors rule out for the differences in religious salience?

Explanations rooted in proportions of different religious denominations, degree of secularization, supply of religious institutions, and national-level religious pluralism.

What is a theoretical contribution of this study regarding social identities like religion?

It reinforces that the importance of social identities is context-dependent, with political elites' mobilization strategies being a critical defining element.

What challenge did the study face due to differing migration rates between Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire?

Endogenous sorting, where people might have moved for reasons related to their attachment to religion.

How did the researchers address the problem of endogenous sorting in their analysis?

By using country of origin rather than country of residence, and by testing for treatment effects based on residence at the start of the Ivorian conflict (2000 or 1993).

For measuring religious identity salience, what type of question did the survey use to understand social attitudes regarding religion?

Questions like 'Could you marry a person of a different religion?' and 'To whom do you feel closer: a person of your country who is not of your religion, or a person of your religion who is not of your country?'

What was the difference in willingness to marry a person of a different religion between Ivorian and Burkinabé respondents?

Ivorian respondents were less likely to say they could marry a person of a different religion (57.1% versus 75%).

When comparing religious demographics, why did the authors conclude that the higher proportion of Muslims in Côte d’Ivoire was not the primary driver of increased religious salience?

The cross-border difference in religious salience remained statistically significant even when the sample was limited to Muslim respondents.

How did the study's findings on wealth and secularization contradict the predictions of secularization theory?

Religious identities were stronger in Côte d’Ivoire, despite its historically higher per capita income, which is the opposite of what secularization theory would predict.

What did interviews with religious leaders reveal about the quantity and quality of religious institutions in the border communities?

They were found to be nearly identical in quantity and the age of their first establishments across the pairs of research sites.

What political policy in Côte d’Ivoire, enacted after President Houphouët-Boigny's death, deepened divisions along religious and ethnic lines?

The xenophobic policy of Ivoirité (Ivorianness).

How did political elites in Côte d’Ivoire mobilize religious support during the civil conflict?

Laurent Gbagbo lobbied evangelical Christians, and Alassane Ouattara rallied the support of the Superior Council of Imams.

What 'suggestive evidence' did the study find for the rapid politicization of religion in Côte d’Ivoire compared to Burkina Faso?

Ivorian respondents were significantly more likely (4.5 times) to report praying 'more' at the time of the study compared to ten years prior, indicating a faster increase in religiosity.

Beyond reaffirming the effects of political context on religious identities, what does this study suggest about the local-level importance of African boundaries?

It challenges the view that African borders provide only juridical clarity to peripheral areas with little connection to national politics, by showing significant discontinuities at a peripheral border.