TY - JOUR
T1 - Fighting for not-So-Religious souls
T2 - The role of religious competition in secular conflicts.
AU - Galindo-Silva, Hector
AU - Tchuente, Guy
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/11
Y1 - 2021/11
N2 - Many countries embroiled in non-religious civil conflicts have experienced a dramatic increase in religious competition in recent years. This study examines whether increasing competition between religions affects violence in non-religious or secular conflicts. The study focuses on Colombia, a deeply Catholic country that has suffered one of the world's longest-running internal conflicts and, in the last few decades, has witnessed an intense increase in religious competition between the Catholic Church and new non-Catholic churches. The estimation of a dynamic treatment effect model shows that establishing the first non-Catholic church in a municipality substantially increases the probability of conflict-related violence. The effect is larger for violence by guerrilla groups, and is concentrated on municipalities where the establishment of the first non-Catholic church leads to more intense religious competition. Further analysis suggests that the increase in guerrilla violence is associated with an expectation among guerrilla groups that their membership will decline as a consequence of more intense competition with religious groups for followers.
AB - Many countries embroiled in non-religious civil conflicts have experienced a dramatic increase in religious competition in recent years. This study examines whether increasing competition between religions affects violence in non-religious or secular conflicts. The study focuses on Colombia, a deeply Catholic country that has suffered one of the world's longest-running internal conflicts and, in the last few decades, has witnessed an intense increase in religious competition between the Catholic Church and new non-Catholic churches. The estimation of a dynamic treatment effect model shows that establishing the first non-Catholic church in a municipality substantially increases the probability of conflict-related violence. The effect is larger for violence by guerrilla groups, and is concentrated on municipalities where the establishment of the first non-Catholic church leads to more intense religious competition. Further analysis suggests that the increase in guerrilla violence is associated with an expectation among guerrilla groups that their membership will decline as a consequence of more intense competition with religious groups for followers.
KW - Armed conflict
KW - Marketplace for religion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85115221970&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jebo.2021.08.027
DO - 10.1016/j.jebo.2021.08.027
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85115221970
SN - 0167-2681
VL - 191
SP - 127
EP - 152
JO - Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
JF - Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
ER -