We also thank Chris Woodruff for his support. We also thank seminar participants at the 15th Meeting of State Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, Brown,

This paper shows that ethnic diversity within the disenfranchised majority is a strong correlate of the incidence of violence during democratization. We study the relationship between ethnicity and con ict in South Africa during the fall of apartheid. Migration ows following the implementation and repeal of apartheid segregation laws induce cross-sectional and time variation in the ethnic composition of districts. Using Census data from the years before and after democratization, we compare the evolution of con ict across districts experiencing differential changes in ethnic composition. We nd that ethnic polarization and inequality within the black majority correlate strongly and positively with the incidence of armed confrontations between black-dominated groups. Results suggest that during democratic transitions ethnic markers can become a salient technology to separate individuals into well-identi ed groups and mobilize them for political violence.

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