Ethnic Nationalism and Collective Choice Theory

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Abstract
This article assesses how different kinds of divisions of labor constrain and enable ethnic collective action. The argument begins from the issue of the completeness of the group's division of labor and pursues the contradiction between Hechter's and Rogowski's position on the importance of the skill distribution among cultural group members. The article demonstrates that each of these positions draws on a different theory of international trade. The argument emphasizes the importance of “trading for independence,” as a condition for the emergence of ethnic collective action, when the group is incomplete. The argument also emphasizes the importance of preference aggregation within a group, and thus reinterprets the conventional treatment of ethnic nationalism as a single-issue movement.