The article, “Horizontal Inequalities, Political Environment and Civil Conflict: Evidence from 55 Developing Countries”, analyzes the relationship between socioeconomic and political factors in the context of civil unrest and segregation of minority groups. The author evaluates the tendency of conflicts at ethnic, religious and regional levels due to the effect of factors such as the type of regime and political alienation. The author establishes greater tendency of unrest and conflicts in regional groups compared to ethnic and religious groups by sampling populations from 55 developing countries. The author focuses on aspects of horizontal inequality because it does not arise from inherent inequality such as intelligence, but is rather a form of forced inequality on diverse subcultures. Collection of the samples entails calculation of welfare inequalities between different identify groups and analyses of key socioeconomic indicators such as educational levels and household assets. The article identifies a relationship between different systems of governance at the regional level and tendencies of conflict because of horizontal inequalities, which the author identifies to be stronger in democratic and semi-democratic systems than in autocratic systems. While the creation of democratic systems does not necessarily translate into the occurrence of conflicts, the aspect of inclusiveness and freedom in such systems encourages protests because democratic systems facilitate proportional representation of diverse groups. In this regard, marginalized groups have the opportunity and means to mobilize and protest against socioeconomic inequalities and seek address of low economic development in their region (Østby 19). On the other hand, the structure of autocratic systems limits the chances of disadvantaged groups to mobilize for protest because of the lack of all-inclusive systems, which eliminate the channels through which groups can express their grievances and allows a greater extent of state repression compared to democratic systems. The author evaluates the impacts of different forms of institutional structuring on the political process in a country and discusses the importance of inclusiveness in key government institutions. An analysis of countries with great levels of socioeconomic inequality and alienation of ethnic, religious and regional groups indicates that sustenance of peace requires the creation of all-inclusive institutions, which minimize grievances and sentiments among groups (Østby 10). The article describes the eruption of wars and conflicts in most countries as an outcome of grievances that have remained unattended to for a long time causing the affected groups to mobilize for war. The analysis of horizontal inequalities and civil conflict indicates that economic inequality cannot lead to political unrest in itself, but requires the catalyst of an environment in which people can organize themselves into groups and start a rebellion. Expression of frustrations and grievances among individuals due to socioeconomic factors such as poverty requires the existence of systems and institutions that allow the group aspect of human beings to thrive. The author con