All quiet on election day? International election observation and incentives for pre-election violence in African elections

Daxecker, Ursula

doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2013.11.006

Cited by 90 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…International observers are commonly employed as a means by which to assure the health of new democracies, particularly in post-conflict contexts (Daxecker 2012(Daxecker , 2014Hyde 2011aHyde , 2011bKelley 2008Kelley , 2011. In theory, the deployment of these observers decreases the likelihood that political actors will resort to violence or fraud in order to affect the election outcome, as they fear getting caught.…”

Section: Hypothesis 4 Elections In Poor Countries Are More Conflict-pmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Political authorities often hold elections merely to satisfy the demands of international audiences and organizations fraud, and violence in (Daxecker 2012(Daxecker , 2014. Allegations of fraud, intimidation, or the placing of legal (though pernicious) restrictions on opposition parties undermines the legitimacy of the electoral process, providing incentives for actors to resort to unconventional tactics such as protests and riots.…”

Section: Hypothesis 4 Elections In Poor Countries Are More Conflict-pmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Elections and Social Conflict in Africa, 1990–2009

Salehyan

Linebarger

2014

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Proponents of democratization often claim that liberal institutions have a palliative effect on the level of conflict within societies. Critics, however, suggest that the instruments of democracy, especially elections, can spark political violence, particularly in weakly institutionalized settings. Using the newly available Social Conflict in Africa Database (SCAD), we examine the relationship between executive elections and social conflict in Africa for the period 1990-2009. We also assess the conditions which make elections more or less violent. We examine elections in (1) countries faced with armed conflict, (2) post-conflict settings, (3) elections in autocracies, and (4) in relatively poor countries. We also look at characteristics of elections themselves, including the margin of victory, the presence of observers, and allegations of vote fraud. Results show that while elections can sometimes spark violence, free and fair elections in genuinely democratic contexts are much less conflict prone, while illiberal elections are especially problematic. We do not find that current or recent armed conflict on a country's territory makes elections more violent.

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Section: Hypothesis 4 Elections In Poor Countries Are More Conflict-pmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Hypothesis 4 Elections In Poor Countries Are More Conflict-pmentioning

confidence: 98%

Elections and Social Conflict in Africa, 1990–2009

Salehyan

Linebarger

2014

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“…Electoral violence has been conceptualized as violent protests against election results, political parties, or opposition groups, 4 as well as attacks by mobs and gangs against visible manifestations of elections, like polling places. 5 Electoral violence can occur before elections as elites strategically shift repression to pre-electoral periods in order to dissuade voters from going to the polls, 6 or it might occur after elections if elites choose to employ violence to punish certain segments of society for voting in specific ways. 7 And while state actors can perpetrate electoral violence, nonstate groups like opposition parties, rebels, and militants may also engage in electoral violence to advance their own objectives.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Dataset of Countries at Risk of Electoral Violence

Birch

Muchlinski

2017

Terrorism and Political Violence

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Electoral violence is increasingly affecting elections around the world, yet researchers have been limited by a paucity of granular data on this phenomenon. This paper introduces and describes a new dataset of electoral violence-the Dataset of Countries at Risk of Electoral Violence (CREV)-that provides measures of 10 different types of electoral violence across 642 elections held around the globe between 1995 and 2013. The paper provides a detailed account of how and why the dataset was constructed, together with a replication of previous research on electoral violence. We introduce this dataset by demonstrating that the CREV, while measuring the same underlying phenomena as other datasets on electoral violence, provides researchers with the ability to draw more nuanced conclusions about the causes and consequences of violence that occurs in connection with the electoral process. We also present and analyze descriptive data from the CREV dataset.

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“…However, although prior research has focused on election violence and intimidation, it is mostly based on postelection violence in the general populace, or violence during and after elections (Brancati and Snyder ; Daxecker ; Flores and Nooruddin ; Tucker ). As such, the majority of interventions for mitigating election violence generally involve short‐term crisis management and a stakeholder management approach geared toward the general populace rather than the political parties and candidates—who could be the real culprits inciting the general populace, especially in strategic election violence.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Surprisingly, there is very scant scholastic focus on pre election violence incited by or otherwise involving political parties and candidates. Limited research exists on the causes, outcomes, and mitigation strategies of preelection violence—which is remarkable, given that the extant literature indicates that a majority of electoral violence actually emanates from preelection violence (Claes 2015; Daxecker ; Strauss and Taylor ). Although some of the short‐term prevention approaches mentioned above do work, Claes () underlines the need for long‐term investment in sustainable preventative approaches to preelection strategic violence to address the risk of violence across election cycles.…”

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confidence: 99%

Mitigating Election Violence and Intimidation: A Political Stakeholder Engagement Approach

Akwei

2018

Politics & Policy

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Most studies of election violence focus on post election violence in the general populace during and after elections. Yet political parties and candidates are key stakeholders in the election process. They compete for public office using campaigns through party‐based platforms to convince electorates for their votes. Parties and candidates can thus potentially be destructive in the election process in the run‐up to elections, as well as on election day and afterward. Drawing on stakeholder theory and the stakeholder engagement literature used frequently in business management, this article develops a political stakeholder engagement framework to create, communicate, deliver, and exchange sustainable strategies to political stakeholders to mitigate election violence and intimidation. The study outlines a definition of the process of political stakeholder engagement, and applies the developed framework to the fiercely contested U.S. 2016 presidential election campaign. The analysis and lessons from the U.S. case suggest the importance of the political stakeholder engagement process as an integral part of sustainable election governance. Related Articles Related Media ABC News. . “Nevada Democratic Convention Chaos Raises Security Concerns.” May 18. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HE3oyNhKH0 We Are Change. . “Violent Arrests and Injuries at the RNC during Flag Burning.” July 20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8PYoU85ugo AP Archive. . “USA: Violent Clashes at Republican National Convention.” July 21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKfWq_-yPbc&t=71s

show abstract

All quiet on election day? International election observation and incentives for pre-election violence in African elections

Cited by 90 publications

References 26 publications

Elections and Social Conflict in Africa, 1990–2009

Elections and Social Conflict in Africa, 1990–2009

The Dataset of Countries at Risk of Electoral Violence

Mitigating Election Violence and Intimidation: A Political Stakeholder Engagement Approach

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