We interpret the increased polarization in Western societies over global economic issues as an interaction of economic forces and shifts in a society's social identity equilibrium. We combine social identity theory with standard small open economy model of international trade to study the effect...

Climate-related extreme weather events are increasingly displacing communities across Southern Africa, with negative implications for social cohesion, livelihoods, and community resilience. Understanding how displacement erodes social cohesion is important for developing strategies for restoring...

In recent years, Morocco has shifted from being primarily a country of transit and emigration to becoming a country of settlement. This evolution is largely driven by increased border restrictions and pushbacks, which have made migration routes to the EU less accessible. As a result, the city of...

The Colombian government’s response to the Venezuelan displacement crisis has largely been lauded for its efforts to support displaced persons by granting legal residency. However, this comes with challenges, as resources at the local level are strained. These challenges can be understood...

Climate change poses an existential threat to individuals and communities across the world. Populations with existing socio-economic vulnerabilities are the most affected, with people already experiencing climate-related losses and damages. Extreme weather events and other adverse impacts of...

This paper examines the erosion of trust as a global phenomenon, highlighting its implications for social cohesion and governance. Using data from the World Values Survey and regional barometers, the analysis focuses on trust's dual dimensions-interpersonal and institutional-within different...

An increasing proportion of the world's poor live in fragile states, and efforts to build economic and social stability increasingly focus on those settings. Fragility harms the political and economic ecosystem, as well as individual endowments. Interventions that only focus on overcoming...

Dans le Sahel, la vulnérabilité, la pauvreté, la concurrence pour les ressources naturelles et les opportunités économiques limitées ont affaibli les liens sociaux et alimenté les conflits, des dynamiques aggravées par le changement climatique. Dans ce contexte, la protection sociale...

An increasing proportion of the world's poor live in fragile states, and efforts to build economic and social stability increasingly focus on those settings. Fragility harms the political and economic ecosystem, as well as individual endowments. Interventions that only focus on overcoming...

The Venezuelan displacement crisis has become a defining moment in South-South migration dynamics across Latin America. Since 2015, severe food shortages, medicine scarcity, soaring inflation and widespread human rights violations have driven a massive exodus from Venezuela. By June 2024, the...

This Data Note is a brief explanation of a dataset compiled for a study on the relationship between social cohesion and Covid-19. The innovative variable in this cross-country dataset is social cohesion, which appears as a consolidated index and as two sub-indices on, respectively, the...

We are currently witnessing complex interactions between climate change, development and security challenges, and social relations in many contexts globally. Programming focusing on these issues, especially with a focus on social cohesion, is rapidly expanding. However, data on the linkages...

The socio-economic inequality that has been growing for some time now is poison for social cohesion and representative democracy. In order to break through the indifference that still prevails towards socio-economic inequality and make more equality possible, people must become aware that the...

“Social cohesion” and the “social contract” are two related analytical concepts, which have become increasingly popular among researchers and practitioners. Both concepts help to understand and characterise societies and countries by shedding light on the relationships between members...

In einer Ära der zunehmenden Vernetzung, Komplexität und Krisen wird die Notwendigkeit neuer Formen der Zusammenarbeit und des Regierens immer offensichtlicher. Die Sektoren Staat, Markt und Zivilgesellschaft stehen vor der Herausforderung, ihre Grenzen neu zu definieren und auf ungewohnte...

The social fragmentation of societies is one of the greatest challenges for peace, democracy and human rights worldwide. For some years now, observers have been witnessing ever-stronger tendencies towards social division, also in Western societies, which had been believed to be united for so...

Africa is currently undergoing the most rapid urbanisation process globally, and this trend is forecast to persist in the coming decades. Many believe that this ongoing rapid urbanisation process is changing the social fabric and reshaping social cohesion. This study explores the theoretical...

Efforts to promote social cohesion through development projects have had to contend with multiple definitions of the term, a lack of clarity on diagnostic and measurement approaches, and contradictory evidence on the effectiveness of different types of interventions meant to repair or reinforce...

We investigate the impact of childhood exposure to organized criminal violence on sociopolitical attitudes in Mexico, where an entire generation of youths has been raised amid the country's most violent conflict over the past century. We fielded an in-person survey to nearly 3,000 urban youths,...

We examine and offer causal evidence on the link between trade exposure and social cohesion using rich micro tax data and a natural experiment of exchange rate liberalization in Uganda. Our results show that exposure to exogenous exchange rate shocks has significant albeit economically small...

This paper explores the effects of globalisation on social cohesion outcomes and the underlying mechanisms. A framework for reviewing the literature is offered, in which labour earnings, household expenditures and firm productivity are identified as the main channels through which economic...

A commonly expressed concern about immigration is that it undermines social cohesion in the receiving country. In this paper, we study the impact of a large and sudden inflow of asylum seekers on several indicators of social cohesion. In 2015/16, over one million asylum seekers from Syria,...

A commonly expressed concern about immigration is that it undermines social cohesion in the receiving country. In this paper, we study the impact of a large and sudden inflow of asylum seekers on several indicators of social cohesion. In 2015/16, over one million asylum seekers from Syria,...

A commonly expressed concern about immigration is that it undermines social cohesion in the receiving country. In this paper, we study the impact of a large and sudden inflow of asylum seekers on several indicators of social cohesion. In 2015/16, over one million asylum seekers from Syria,...

Bilateral and multilateral donors are increasingly focusing on strengthening social cohesion in efforts to build and sustain peace in conflict-affected societies. What does promoting social cohesion mean with respect to inter­national engagement? This policy brief provides an overview of the...

This paper uses a novel dataset on ethnic warfare to shed light on how conflict affects social identification and cohesion. A large body of anecdotal studies suggests that ethnic identities become more salient at times of conflict. Using data from eighteen sub-Saharan countries, I provide...

Over the 11 years since the first cycle of the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), Sweden improved its performance relative to the OECD average and was in 2023 among the top performers in the OECD. This deep-dive into the PIAAC results of Sweden systematically explores literacy, employment and...

Millions of people around the world are internally displaced and yet-compared to other forms of wartime victimization-scholars know relatively little about the long-run consequences of displacement for victims. This gap in the literature is problematic since displacement is distinct from other...

Can local elections introduced in a post-conflict context help to foster societal peace, or do they create new potential for conflict? The value of post-conflict elections has been the matter of controversial academic debates. However, this literature largely neglects to take into account the...

Building upon the literature on contact theory, this paper explores the role of inter-group interaction in shaping social cohesion between refugees and host communities in East Africa. It draws upon first-hand quantitative (n=16,608) and qualitative data collected from refugees and nearby host...

After the 1919-1922 Greco-Turkish conflict, 1.2 million Greek Orthodox were forcibly displaced from Turkey to Greece, increasing the host population by 20 percent within a few months. Refugees were pro-vided with farmland, new houses and schools, and were granted the Greek citizenship. This...

In political and social institutions, in developed countries, participation is a great of importance. According to, institutional contexts and the level of socio-political cohesion, political participation indicates different results in developing countries. However, political participation is...

Social cohesion has recently gained increasing attention in academic and policy circles. Apart from being a necessary feature of stable societies per se, social cohesion is also a key factor for sustainable economic development. One potential means through which social cohesion could foster...

This paper explores the effect of globalization on social cohesion outcomes and reviews its underlying mechanisms. I offer a framework to review the literature, in which I identify worker labour earnings, household expenditures and firm productivity as main channels through which globalization...