Dear All,

Please join us this Thursday (October 1, 2026) at 12:30 PM Eastern Time (United States) (9.30 AM Pacific Time, 6.30 PM Central European Time) for the next session of the virtual workshop in HPE.

Our schedule for the 2026/27 academic year can be found here: https://historicalpe.org/schedule-past-participants/. 

The paper this week will be presented by Rikhil Bhavnani (University of Wisconsin-Madison), co-authored with Saumitra Jha (Stanford University). Volha Charnysh (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) has graciously agreed to provide an initial set of comments, before we open the floor for an audience Q&A.

You can find the link to the paper below and the link to our Zoom meeting at the end of this email:

Paper Link:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/uc01eoihcwyt3o2zfxv59/Bhavnani_Jha_Peace_Derailed.pdf?rlkey=zie7owm9z2wkvqx2ww0zozbds&dl=0

Title:

Peace Derailed: The Effects of Mass Protests on Religious Conflict in South Asia

Abstract:

Constructive inter-ethnic contact—in teams, social movements or political coalitions—is often considered conducive to inter-ethnic peace. Under what conditions does this work, and when can it fail: when can cross-ethnic mobilization lead instead to religious conflict, doing so even in places with long histories of peaceful coexistence? Using novel archival data, we study the effects of the first pro-Independence mass mobilization across religious lines in South Asia (1921–22) on the subsequent breakdown of religious tolerance. We exploit a temporary exogenous shock to local cross-religious mobilization stemming from the 8,000 mile pre-planned tour of the Prince of Wales in 1921–22. We show that protests due to the visit raised the propensity of a district to experience a subsequent religious riot by 87 percent, including in places that never before experienced such violence. Furthermore, in these districts, the hazard of the first breakdown of inter-religious peace in any year rises threefold. We interpret these results as reflecting how mobilizing cross-ethnic coalitions, without also aligning long-term complementary incentives, can actually undermine inter-religious peace.

We look forward to seeing you there!

 

All the best,

Dima Kofanov

On behalf of the co-conveners (Aslı, Dima, Tine, and Jan)

 

Zoom information: