Lea Haiges

Lea Haiges

Lea Haiges is a Doctoal Researcher at the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality" at the University of Konstanz.

Project:

Doctoral Project:

"Between Reality and Perception: The Role of Ethnic Parties in Constructing Grievances."

Abstract:
I investigate the relationship between objective and perceived group inequalities. Research on conflict acknowledges that it is not necessarily objective inequalities between ethnic groups that matter for mobilization, but mostly whether ethnic groups perceive such inequalities as unfair and feel aggrieved about it. Yet, there is little empirical knowledge on how such feelings of deprivation emerge. This project aims to contribute to this research gap by focusing on ethnic parties as one important actor creating such perceptions. More specifically, I investigate how ethnic parties portray inequalities and construct grievances rhetorically. Furthermore, I investigate to what extent their rhetoric influences individuals’ perceptions about inequality. The overall research design combines large-n and small-n approaches, by leveraging an explorative quantitative analysis about ethnic parties’ communication worldwide, before applying qualitative case studies to unveil causal mechanisms.

Research Interests:

  • Ethnic politics
  • Inequality
  • Mobilization and conflict

Learn more about Lea Haiges