We know very little about the origins of and ways to prevent genocide from occurring. Despite it being a rare event, 36 cases of genocide or politicide occurred between 1955 and 2000, 80% of which took place during a civil war. The relationship between these two phenomena has been overlooked by both of the respective literatures. I hypothesize that the duration of the civil war, as well as the intensity of the conflict have some bearing on whether or not genocide or politicide occur. Using a selection model, which allows for the isolation of mechanisms in both stages: entry into civil war and the subsequent escalation to genocide or politicide, I test this argument. Interestingly, once selection into a civil war is accounted for ethnic heterogeneity has a greater statistical and substantive impact on genocide/politicide onset than was previously believed.
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