Riots in Nigeria

[under contract] This book manuscript explores why individuals choose to participate in ethnic riots in contemporary Nigeria. The rich existing literature on ethnic conflict focuses heavily on top-down, elite-centered processes, which leaves us with few answers as to why ordinary people would follow their leaders and voluntarily engage in actions that are often fraught with extreme risk. The answer that is given in the book manuscript is that the interaction between poverty and neighborhood-level social networks dramatically increases the likelihood of riot participation. While poverty may increase a person’s willingness to riot, it is centrality in certain types of social networks that transforms potential into actual rioters. To provide evidence for this narrative, an original survey of over 800 rioters and non-rioters in two cities in northern Nigeria, Kaduna and Jos was conducted, both of which have experienced riots in the past. A survey of all 70 neighborhood chiefs in the two cities was also completed; absentee surveys with family members of those randomly sampled individuals who had died or moved away; and 40 in-depth interviews with riot participants and riot organizers, which are used to contextualize and interpret survey findings.