Citation

Biziouras N. Democr. Secur. 2014; 10(1): 52-72.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/17419166.2013.842169

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

By focusing on the intra- and interethnic interactions in Sri Lanka, I show that the intensity of interethnic violence--namely the choice of suicide terrorism by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam--occurs only when the leadership elites of the majority ethnic group are fractionalized and the minority ethnic group relies on its ethnic leadership for its economic well-being. Put differently, the greater intraethnic fractionalization is within the leadership ranks of the majority ethnic group, the greater the willingness of majority group leaders to placate their ethnic brethren and outbid their intraethnic rivals at the expense of the minority ethnic group; and the greater the minority group members' reliance on their ethnic group leaders for economic resources and upward mobility, the greater their willingness to participate in radical forms of violence such as suicide terrorism.