This article examines ethnic integration in Burundi's military after its brutal, ethnically charged civil war. Political science has traditionally been skeptical about the ability of integrated institutions to transcend ethnic conflict.
However, this research shows that extensive quota-based integration successfully created a cohesive institution despite deep interethnic animosity.
A natural experiment involving military retirement ages provided quasirandom exposure,
demonstrating that contact with ethnically diverse units actually decreased prejudicial behavior while being benign for ethnic salience.
These findings offer evidence of promise for ethnic integration in post-conflict contexts.
