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SUMMARY:The Organizational Roots of Persistent Electoral Violence in Afric
 a  - Adrienne Lebas\, American University
DTSTART:20200210T170000Z
DTEND:20200210T183000Z
UID:TALK138436@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Victoria Jones
DESCRIPTION:Why does electoral violence become a persistent feature of ele
 ctions in some new electoral regimes\, while other countries have limited 
 or only temporary problems with such violence? This question is particular
 ly important in sub-Saharan Africa\, where a high proportion of elections 
 are characterized by some degree of violence. Electoral violence is often 
 presented in the literature as a strategic tool deployed by incumbents to 
 retain office\, yet much less attention has been devoted to how election v
 iolence is organized and sustained at the grassroots level. Dr. LeBas will
  discuss her current book project\, which examines the role that grassroot
 s economies of violence provision play in explaining the dynamics of elect
 oral violence in Africa. The book makes two related arguments. First\, wea
 k parties are more likely to rely on "outsourcing" of violence and other a
 spects of vote mobilization to grassroots actors\, while strong parties wi
 ll typically maintain the structures within the party and will not exclusi
 vely rely on monetary compensation of "violence specialists." Over time\, 
 these choices have consequences. In outsourcing settings\, violence provis
 ion becomes autonomous of elite control\, leading to a proliferation of pr
 oviders\, autonomy and "entrepreneurial" violence on the part of grassroot
 s actors\, and investment in security by a larger number of candidates. Th
 e book argues that the evolution and increasing sophistication of these ma
 rkets result in a general erosion of rule of law\, as grassroots violence 
 specialists seek other employment in non-electoral periods. LeBas will dra
 w on fieldwork in Nigeria and Ghana to lay out the logic of these argument
 s.
LOCATION:Seminar Room S1 Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road\, Cambridge
  CB3 9DT
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