Politics & Governance / International Politics / War & Conflict

Why Tribes with Strong Family Ties Have 2x More Wars (Shocking Study)

Think strong family bonds prevent conflict? Think again. This video breaks down a groundbreaking study by Jacob Moscona, Nathan Nunn, and James A. Robinson from their paper 'Kinship and Conflict: Evidence from Segmentary Lineage Societies in Sub-Saharan Africa.' They analyzed 145 ethnic groups across Africa and found that societies organized around 'segmentary lineages'—where loyalty to distant relatives is intense—experience nearly double the frequency of conflicts. These fights are bigger, longer, and more vengeful. Why? It's not about poverty or politics. It's about how social structure lowers the cost of mobilizing fighters. A small personal dispute can escalate into a massive tribal war. We'll walk through the evidence, including a clever geographic analysis that proves this pattern holds even across nearby groups. By the end, you'll see how ancient kinship rules still shape modern violence.