2013
DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12042
|View full text |Cite
|
Sign up to set email alerts
|

Drought and Civil War in Sub‐Saharan Africa

Abstract: SummaryIn this paper, we show that drought has a positive effect on the incidence of civil war over the period in Sub-Saharan Africa. We use the Palmer Drought Severity Index which is a richer measurement of drought than the measures used in the literature (rainfall and temperature) as it measures the accumulation of water in the soil in taking into account the temperature and the geological characteristics of the soil. We show that the risk of civil war increases by more than 42% from a "normal" climate to a… Show more

Help me understand this report

Search citation statements

Order By: Relevance

Paper Sections

Select...
1
1
1
1

Citation Types

1
28
1

Year Published

2013
2013
2020
2020

Publication Types

Select...
5
4

Relationship

0
9

Authors

Journals

citations
Cited by 145 publications
(43 citation statements)
references
References 57 publications
1
28
1
Order By: Relevance
“…Yet, the sample inclusion strategy adopted by Hsiang and coauthors favors form over function by using selection criteria that explicitly disregard studies that revisit previously investigated climateconflict associations, regardless of whether they complement, contrast or correct earlier findings. For example, the country-level relationship between rainfall and civil conflict is represented in the meta-analysis by a single peer-reviewed result (Miguel et al 2004), omitting numerous more recent investigations that reach different conclusions (e.g., Buhaug 2010; Burke et al 2009;Ciccone 2011;Couttenier and Soubeyran 2013;Koubi et al 2012). 4 Moreover, the meta-analysis, and implicitly also the non-technical assessment in Hsiang and Burke, considers just one climate indicator from each study, in many cases the one that indicated the strongest effect, although many of the original studies actually explore multiple alternative and complementary climate measures that sometimes produce contrasting results.…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Yet, the sample inclusion strategy adopted by Hsiang and coauthors favors form over function by using selection criteria that explicitly disregard studies that revisit previously investigated climateconflict associations, regardless of whether they complement, contrast or correct earlier findings. For example, the country-level relationship between rainfall and civil conflict is represented in the meta-analysis by a single peer-reviewed result (Miguel et al 2004), omitting numerous more recent investigations that reach different conclusions (e.g., Buhaug 2010; Burke et al 2009;Ciccone 2011;Couttenier and Soubeyran 2013;Koubi et al 2012). 4 Moreover, the meta-analysis, and implicitly also the non-technical assessment in Hsiang and Burke, considers just one climate indicator from each study, in many cases the one that indicated the strongest effect, although many of the original studies actually explore multiple alternative and complementary climate measures that sometimes produce contrasting results.…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Dai et al (2004) provide monthly PDSI on a 2.5 × 2.5 degree grid, with negative values implying dry areas. Couttenier and Soubeyran (2014) show that the association between PDSI and conflict is stronger than the one between rainfall and conflict at the country level, and that low PDSI is associated with low crop yields. The variable Drought it is equal to the average PDSI in region i in year t. Table 1 provides summary statistics for our five main variables.…”
Section: Datamentioning
confidence: 84%
“…1 To instrument for economic activity, we use lagged levels 1 Early studies using nighttime light intensity as proxy for economic activity include Sutton and Costanza (2002), Doll et al (2006), and Sutton et al (2007). Papaioannou (2013, 2014) use nighttime light intensity to measure economic activity in a cross-section of African regions, and Hodler and Raschky (2014) Miguel et al (2004) and Ciccone (2011), and lagged drought intensity inspired by Couttenier and Soubeyran (2014).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Recurrent shifts in temperatures and rainfall, including water-related conflicts, are well-known livelihood stresses in the Sahel, often acting in combination to alter agricultural production, food supplies and livelihood dynamics (Benjaminsen 2008;Couttenier and Soubeyran 2014;Uexkull 2014). Losses from climate and water conflict impacts represent an important vulnerability concern in our study context.…”
Section: Discussion Unpacking the Implications Of The Cwcvi-dei Assesmentioning
confidence: 99%