TY - JOUR A1 - Cederman, Lars-Erik A1 - Skrede Gleditsch, Kristian A1 - Wucherpfennig, Julian T1 - The Diffusion of Inclusion: An Open-Polity Model of Ethnic Powersharing JF - Comparative Political Studies N2 - While there is a growing consensus that ethnic inclusion produces peace, less is known about what causes transitions to power sharing between ethnic groups in central governments in multiethnic states. The few studies that have addressed this question have proposed explanations stressing exclusively domestic factors. Yet, power sharing is spatially clustered, which suggests that diffusion may be at play. Inspired by studies of democratic diffusion, we study the spread of inclusive policies with an “open-polity model” that explicitly traces diffusion from inclusion in other states. Our findings indicate that the relevant diffusion processes operate primarily at the level of world regions rather than globally or between territorial neighbors. Thus, the more inclusive the region, the more likely a shift to power sharing becomes. Shifts away from inclusion to dominance are less common since World War II, but they are more likely in regional settings characterized by ethnic exclusion. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414017740602 VL - 51 IS - 10 SP - 1279 EP - 1313 ER -