The Politics of Communal Violence

My own research has looked at the role of electoral incentives for ethnic violence in contemporary India and other states, using a mix of statistical and case evidence. Many other political scientists and economists are also using such evidence to understand the causes of violence. But this contemporary focus on electoral and economic causes naturally raises the question: what about the enormous amount of collective violence throughout history that preceded electoral competition, or the other factors advanced today? Considering this question has brought me to the work of those, like David Nirenberg who have explored the political ramifications of collective violence even in very different environments, when those groups protected by the King, for instance, were attacked as part of a larger struggle for political power and influence.