Communal Conflicts and Barriers to Peacebuilding: Evidence from Kenya

• In Event: Communal Conflict, Civil War, and Implications for Peacebuilding

Abstract

How do individuals’ experience with political violence shape the prospects and pathways for peacebuilding and social resilience? A growing literature analyzes the varied consequences of civil war and political violence, pointing to both pro- and anti-social effects, including increased empathy and altruism on one hand, and the hardening of social identities and distrust on the other. Relatedly, there is little consensus about how varied experiences of violence – in terms of the type, intensity, frequency, and organization – strengthen or erode the individual and collective capacity to remain resilient and engage in peacebuilding activities. Drawing on evidence from Kenya, this paper develops and tests a set of hypotheses about how the form and dynamics of violence that community members experience shapes their willingness and capacity to restrain violence and promote peace. While Kenya has evaded mass violence and civil war, the country has experienced repeated episodes of electoral violence, alongside extremist violence, state-repression, and communal conflict. We begin by using ACLED data to create a set of key independent variables that distinguish between electoral, communal, insurgent, and state-led communal violence, as well as instances of joint communal and electoral violence. We combine this data with an original household-level survey that measures individual-level attitudes and behaviors regarding peacebuilding activities (e.g., trust, social inclusion, tolerance, out-group altruism and cooperation). Broadly, we aim to identify pathways and barriers to bottom-up peacebuilding, particularly in spaces shaped by communal and electoral violence.

Authors

• Kathleen Klaus, Uppsala University

• Jana Krause, University of Oslo