Research Seminar | A War of Words: Examining the Role of Language Status Grievances in Civil Wars

Do state-imposed language restrictions influence the likelihood of ethnic civil wars? Existing research emphasizes political and material inequalities but underexplores the role of language grievances in shaping conflict. This paper addresses this gap with a group-level analysis of language recognition policies and conflict dynamics. Drawing on the Nation-Building Policies (NBP) dataset (1945–2020), we construct indicators that capture shifts in state recognition of group languages in public education, including downgrades, exclusion, and prolonged denial. Merging these with group-level conflict data, we show that language restrictions are linked primarily to conflict incidence. The results indicate that downgrades and lack of recognition exacerbate conflict persistence, while permanent non-teaching of a language is associated with lower mobilization, consistent with long-run adaptation. These findings challenge claims that language policies are merely symbolic, underscoring their significance for understanding and mitigating the persistence of ethnic conflict.

Emre Amasyali is a social sciences researcher specializing in the analysis of the dynamics of nation-building and their long-term effects on ethnic group relations, conflict, and socio-political change. His work offers a comparative perspective on the consequences of Western (e.g., British, French) and non-Western (Ottoman Empire) models of nation- and empire-building. By integrating Geographic Information System (GIS) tools, quantitative methods, and archival research with traditional qualitative analysis, he employs innovative methodologies to advance historical and comparative studies. Emre holds a PhD from McGill University, where his research and teaching earned multiple awards for excellence, and a Master’s degree from the University of Oxford. Currently, he serves as a Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI) and is a Postdoctoral Researcher for the ERC-funded ETHNICGOODS project. Currently, he is working on a series of collaborative research articles that explore topics such as post-Soviet nation-building policies, language grievances and ethnic conflict, and the pitfalls of anachronism in social science.