The sociology of studies of ethnic conflict: Explaining the causal status of development
Is security a pre‐condition for development or is development a precondition for security? Since World War II, scholars studying ethnic conflict have answered this question differently. In reviewing the literature on development and ethnic conflict, this article introduces ideas derived from the sociology of science to explain the lack of consensus. Accordingly, the article suggests that this variation should not be understood as a reflection of the growth of cumulative knowledge but rather as a reflection of the fact that ethnic conflict has been studied by many social science disciplines.