Village Social Network Structures and Political Violence

• In Event: Distortions to Democracy: Corruption, Clientelism, and Voter Intimidation

Abstract

Despite the prevalence of politically-motivated violence across the developing world, little is known about how politicians target voters with electoral violence and intimidation, and how these choices co-vary with the network structure of communities. This paper presents new evidence demonstrating the importance of voter social network structures for explaining the targeting of political violence to communities. Using a combination of large-scale social network data and detailed surveys, I show that villages where social position is concentrated in relatively few families are disproportionately targeted for political violence. Understanding how communities are targeted for political violence is important for the design of international and domestic-level initiatives for protecting those vulnerable to these strategies.

Author

• Cesi Cruz, University of British Columbia