Bonding, Bridging, and Bypassing

Understanding Ethnic Politics in Diverse Societies

Oxford University Press

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Societal divisions and even violence can occur when electoral candidates appeal to race, religion, or tribe. Why do candidates make these ethnic appeals? More specifically, why do some candidates appeal to their own ethnic group while others reach out to other ethnic groups or abandon ethnic appeals altogether?

 

To answer this question, Colm A. Fox adopted a ground-breaking, novel approach to study campaign appeals made by thousands of candidates. He collected and systematically analyzed photographs of over 25,000 election posters from campaigns across Indonesia, along with newspaper reports and interview data.

 

The book shows how electoral rules, political party ideology, ethnic demographics, and social norms shape candidates’ decisions to bond with co-ethnics, bridge across other ethnic groups, or bypass ethnicity entirely. Its findings yield not only insights as to which ethnic identities are likely to become politicized, but also prescriptions on how to curb divisive ethnic politics.

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“Bonding, Bridging, and Bypassing is at once a decisive contribution to theorizing on ethnic politics, and a landmark analysis of how ethnic politics works in one of the world’s multi-ethnic giants, Indonesia. Drawing on a stunning array of sources, it provides us with new ways to study ethnic politics, and a new toolbox for understanding how, why, and when politicians draw on ethnic appeals to win elections.” 

— Edward Aspinall, Australian National University

 

"Colm Fox adopts a fresh approach to the study of ethnic politics. Rather than fixate on violence or on the rabble-rousing of national leaders, he focuses on the multitude of politicians below the national level, convincingly showing how electoral rules, and not prejudice or megalomania, can determine whether candidates make ethnic appeals, what kinds they make, or - shockingly to some - why they might bypass ethnic appeals altogether. While the preponderance of evidence draws from meticulous research conducted in the important, multi-ethnic country of Indonesia, this innovative book’s findings will apply widely."

— Jamie Davidson, National University of Singapore

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“Bonding, Bridging, and Bypassing tackles one of the core questions in comparative politics—what are the consequences of ethnic diversity for democratic politics—from the perspective of a candidate for office. Combining wholly original data, the book provides a convincing account of how electoral rules, group size, and party characteristics shape candidate’s decision on whether to appeal to their own ethnic group (bonding) or mobilize across groups (bridging). The book should be on the shelf of any comparativist interest in ethnic politics, political institutions, or comparative electoral politics.”

— Allen Hicken University of Michigan

 

“A major breakthrough in the scientific understanding of ethnic politics in emerging democracies. The secret sauce is the focus on candidates’ appeals to the voters during election campaigns and the systematic and replicable use of data photographed from thousands of posters combined with local newspaper reports and hundreds of rich interviews. The result is a brilliant analysis of Indonesia today that will inform future research in many other countries.”

— R. William Liddle, Ohio State University

 

“Ethnic politics in Indonesia defies easy classification. Based on immersive field research and an impressive range of original data, Bonding, Bridging, and Bypassing brings clarity to the logic of ethnic politics in one of the world’s most diverse democracies. Rather than treating ethnic appeals as inevitable, Colm Fox shows how institutional rules and ethnic demography interact, explaining why, when, and how politicians use ethnic appeals. The result is a novel, compelling, and comprehensive account of the politics of identity, with implications for ethnic politics in diverse democracies around the world.”

— Tom Pepinsky, Cornell University

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