Oil Wealth, Ethno‐Religious‐Linguistic Fractionalization and Civil Wars in Africa: Cross‐Country Evidence

Abstract We empirically examine the effect of oil wealth and ethno‐religious‐linguistic fractionalization on civil war prevalence in Africa, by using three different estimation strategies and alternative measures of societal diversity. We show that oil wealth and the three distributional measures of ethnic fractionalization, religious fractionalization and linguistic fractionalization are significant correlates of civil war in Africa. These effects persist as we use an alternative measure of the prevalence of civil war. Thus, while oil wealthy, ethnically and linguistically fractionalized countries are more likely to experience civil violence, religiously fractionalized ones are less likely to experience significant civil violence in the Continent. We also find that countries with large population size, rough (mountainous) terrain and coup‐prone are at greater risk for civil war than those that are more democratic with high per capita income and economic growth.