Estimados Académicos y Académicas FEN,

Les extendemos la invitación al seminario que organiza el Departamento de Economía, en el que se presentará el trabajo titulado "Dear Brothers and Sisters: Pope's Speeches and the Dynamics of Conflict in Africa".

Expone: Lucile Laugerette, PhD Student at Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon

Coautores: Mathieu Couttenier, Sophie Hatte y Tommaso Sonno

Abstract: Conflicts persist widely with devastating consequences, underscoring the imperative of peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts. International speeches play a pivotal role in peacebuilding by fostering awareness, facilitating dialogue and comprehension, urging action, and cultivating a climate of peace through an emphasis on dialogue, compromise, and reconciliation. This paper delves into the impact of the Pope’s speeches on African conflicts since 1997, examining the extent to which Vatican addresses, explicitly mentioning conflict situations in a given country, can influence the dynamics of violence. Specifically, utilizing data on conflict events across all African countries from 1997 to 2021, at a spatial resolution of 0.5*0.5 latitude and longitude, we discern, on average, a decrease in violence in the weeks following the Pope’s speeches. We observe notable disparities across pontiffs, with John Paul II yielding a significantly greater effect on violence reduction compared to Pope Francis or Pope Benedict XVI. Furthermore, we ascertain that the local relay of the Pope’s message—such as bishops—impacts the transmission of peace initiatives, with violence reduction being more pronounced when bishops align with the Pope. Additionally, we find that regions where national political leaders wield substantial influence coincide with the most substantial decrease in violence. Moreover, areas with a higher concentration of religious structures display greater receptiveness to the Pope’s peace message. While the Pope’s speeches demonstrate a capacity to mitigate the frequency and intensity of conflicts, the spatial variations we uncover underscore the nuanced reception of peace messages within diverse communities.

El formato será presencial y el seminario se desarrollará en la Sala P-204.

Saludos cordiales,

Dirección de Investigación