Traditional Chiefs, Climate Volatility, and Violence: Evidence from North-Central Nigeria

Why do some groups succumb to conflict while others manage to peacefully coexist, in the face of increasing resource pressures, inter-group clashes or disputes? Catlan Reardon (Political Science, UC Berkeley) explores the role of traditional chiefs, who wield significant influence over local level dispute resolution and may explain this variation. Specifically, her project seeks to understand  why some traditional chiefs take pre-emptive action to calm tensions while others either actively inflame tensions or remain passive.