Why does ethnic diversity make a society safer not more dangerous?
One of the most striking empirical regularities is that societies which are diverse in terms of ethnicity and religion are significantly safer than societies which are homogenous. If ethnic and religious hatreds an important cause of conflict the pattern would be the reverse, since in homogenous societies there would be nobody to hate. Evidently, conflict is not being generated by such hatreds. However, it is less evident why diversity makes a society considerably safer, instead of simply having no effect. I think that diversity makes a society safer because it makes rebellion more difficult. This is because, first and foremost, a rebel organization is neither a mafia nor a protest movement, but an army. Armies face huge problems of organizational cohesion and motivation. To fight effectively, soldiers must overcome their individual instincts to avoid danger, and must take risks to help other members of their team. Military history abounds in stories of small groups defeating larger gr
