Systemic Corruption and Revolution in Africa: Evidence from Nigeria

• In Event: Protest and Resistance in the Developing World

Abstract

Across Africa, citizens rise up frequently against government corruption. Sometimes, they rise up with demands to reform the government. Other times, they rise up in revolution, demanding new governing paradigms and documents. How can we explain these diverging goals? In this article, I argue that the characteristics of corruption help shape the contentious goals voiced by groups and individuals. When citizens perceive acts of corruption that primarily generate material benefits, they rise up with calls for reform. When they perceive acts of corruption that reshape or pervert the system itself, they are more likely to rise up with demands for revolution. Using experimental data from Nigeria and a large-n dataset of observed incidents of contention from 2000 – 2016, this research finds strong support for the argument that different types of corruption condition contentious goals.

Author

• Jacob S. Lewis, Penn State Erie, the Behrend College