Individual Identity Attachments and International Conflict The Importance of Territorial Threat

This article provides some of the first individual-level evidence for the domestic salience of territorial issues. Using survey data from more than 80,000 individual respondents in 43 separate countries, we examine how conflict affects the content of individual self-identification. We find that inte...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inComparative political studies Vol. 45; no. 12; pp. 1655 - 1683
Main Authors Gibler, Douglas M., Hutchison, Marc L., Miller, Steven V.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.12.2012
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Case studies
Citizens
Citizenship
Conflict
Conflicts
Cross-national analysis
Disputes
Domestic affairs
Ethnic consciousness
Ethnic Identity
Ethnicity
Ethnopolitics
Identification
Identity
Identity formation
Individual and society
Individual behaviour
Influence
International Conflict
International conflicts
Majorities
Nationalism
Nigeria
Political influences
Political theory
Polls & surveys
Respondents
Territorial disputes
Territorial issues
territorial threat
international conflict
identity
territorial threat
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Summary:This article provides some of the first individual-level evidence for the domestic salience of territorial issues. Using survey data from more than 80,000 individual respondents in 43 separate countries, we examine how conflict affects the content of individual self-identification. We find that international conflict exerts a strong influence on the likelihood and content of individual self-identification, but this effect varies with the type of conflict. Confirming nationalist theories of territorial salience, territorial conflict leads the majority of individuals in targeted countries to identify themselves as citizens of their country. However, individuals in countries that are initiating territorial disputes are more likely to self-identify as members of a particular ethnicity, which provides support for theories connecting domestic salience to ethnic politics. That conflict has variegated effects on identity formation suggests the relationship is not endogenous. Our within-case analysis of changes in Nigerian self-identifications further demonstrates that individuals are quite susceptible to the types and locations of international conflict.
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ISSN:0010-4140
1552-3829
DOI:10.1177/0010414012463899