1989/07/01 by Mark Irving Lichbach, Mark Lichbach · 382 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Mathematics · Social Sciences · #Agricultural risk and resilience #Computer science #Economics #Income, Poverty, and Inequality #Inequality #Isolation (microbiology) #Law #Mathematics #Nexus (standard) #Political Conflict and Governance #Political science #Politics #Positive economics #Sociology #Test (biology)
paper · doi:10.2307/2010526
published in World Politics 41(4), 431-470 (Cambridge University Press)
openalex publication_date 1989/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Contradictory findings, that economic inequality may have a positive, negative, or no impact on political conflict, are a puzzle for conflict studies. Three approaches have been used t o explain the inconsistent findings of the EI-PC (Economic Inequality-Political Conflict) nexus: statistical modeling, formal modeling, and theory building. Because analysts have tended to possess different research skills, these three approaches have been employed in isolation from one another. Singly, however, all three approaches have proved deficient and are unlikely to solve the EI-PC puzzle. The most fruitful approach is to combine the assumptions of the theory builders and the deductive approach of the formal modelers with the various empirical tests of the statistical modelers. Such an approach to the EI-PC puzzle produces a crucial test of the Deprived Actor and Rational Actor theories of conflict. The approach is also our best hope for solving the other long-standing puzzles in conflict studies.