Adhering Indigenous Communities to the State: Recognition Politics During Civil Conflict

Abstract

Numerous countries in recent decades have formally recognized collective indigenous claims to territory and self-governance during civil conflict despite challenges to state authority and social order. How does collective indigenous recognition impact conflict violence within communities? This paper shows that indigenous recognition can shore up order and state reach. It does so in Peru, where the state recognized thousands of indigenous communities during an internal conflict from 1980 to 2000 that disproportionately impacted indigenous Peruvians. Using a staggered difference-in-difference research design and an original spatial mapping of conflict violence to indigenous communities, I find that formal recognition reduced wartime violence. Further analysis of community characteristics as well as state and community counterinsurgency efforts indicates that as recognition fosters greater legibility and transfers disputes into state institutions, it invites state penetration and coordination with state actors that ultimately adheres communities to the state.