DEPRIVED, RATIONAL OR BOTH - WHY MINORITIES REBEL REVISITED

In a 1993 article in the International Political Science Review, red R obert Gurr took a first step toward a systematic, comparative analysis of ethnic conflict. In addition, Gurr sketched a theoretical synthesi s of relative deprivation and resource mobilization models of politica l conflict, In this article we replicate Gurr's study, We use the same data set, but contend that Gurr's statistical analysis did not adequa tely test the theoretical model he proposed, The findings produced in our study diverge from those Gurr reported, In particular, we find tha t the major measure of deprivation does not have a direct impact on et hnic conflict behavior in the 1980s, Instead, deprivation has a positi ve impact on mobilization which, in turn, influences ethnic conflict b ehavior, In the conclusion we explore the implications of this researc h for theoretical attempts to synthesize relative deprivation and rati onal actor, including resource mobilization, theories of political con flict, as well as opportunities to bridge the gap between the ethnic c onflict and conflict studies literatures.