Explaining electoral violence in Africa’s ‘new’ democracies

Omotola, J. Shola

doi:10.4314/ajcr.v10i3.63320

Cited by 39 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Other cases in the developing world that significantly inform the study of migrant transnationalism include the Philippines, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, India, and Pakistan, among others (see e.g. Daxecker and Jung 2018;Iglesias 2018;Kleinfeld and Barham 2018;Knowlton 2017;Córdova 2019;Omotola 2010). It is therefore surprising that scholars of transnationalism have generally ignored the violent nature of the democracies with which migrants interact.…”

Section: Mexico: a Quintessential Violent Democracymentioning

confidence: 99%

Migrant transnationalism in violent democracies

Pérez‐Armendáriz

2019

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

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We can strengthen our understanding of the relationship between transnational migration and origin-country politics by starting with the premise that violence is a key feature of democratic politics in many migrant-sending countries. Violent democracies are peacetime countries in which the legitimate means to accessing power are no longer violently contested; yet at the substate level, manifold political actors regularly use violence to compete for power and make demands within established democratic institutional frameworks. Drawing primarily on the case of Mexico, this issue explores the interactions between migrant transnationalism, particularly migrants' collective and family remittances, and this violent pluralism. The articles show that social and political remittances influence the emergence of armed vigilante groups and that violence modifies the known effects of remittances on the political behaviour of individuals living in migrant-sending households. The violent democracy perspective raises questions overlooked by research on migration and democratisation, diaspora engagement with origin countries plagued by armed civil conflict, and transnational crime. Therefore, research on this topic merits a dedicated theoretical and empirical approach. Building on the Issue's empirical findings, I advance a broad agenda for future research both within Mexico and in violent migrant-sending democracies around the world.

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Section: Mexico: a Quintessential Violent Democracymentioning

confidence: 99%

Migrant transnationalism in violent democracies

Pérez‐Armendáriz

2019

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

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“…The Encarta Dictionary defined the word "electoral" as "relating to or involving elections, electors or voters", while violence is the use of physical force to injure and consolidation. Violence has been a feature of the country's electoral process since the colonial era (Omotola, 2007). During this period, violence was easily curtailed due to the nature and scope of participation, characteristics of politicians and electorates and the nature of colonial domination.…”

Section: Electoral Violencementioning

confidence: 99%

An Appraisal of Electoral Malpractice and Violence as an Albatross in Nigerian’s Democratic Consolidation

Steve¹,

Nwocha²,

Igwe³

2019

BLR

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Election offences manifest in all forms of malpractices such as rigging, thuggery, vote buying, often times culminating in violence. These offences had remained an albatross in the Nigerian electoral journeys from the colonial period through the first republic in 1960 till 1999 when Nigerians started witnessing an untruncated democratic journey in her electoral history. Nigeria's elections have always been marred by electoral malpractices and violence thereby shortchanging the citizens' will and mandate expressed during elections. The general aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of electoral violence and malpractices on the outcome of elections in Nigeria while the specific objective is to determine the solutions to this malaise for a better democracy based on popular elections in the country. The paper adopts a theoretical, doctrinal and conceptual method of research and utilizes Nigeria's electoral laws, court decisions, as well as legislations criminalizing electoral malpractice and violence so as to arrive at a balanced and objective analysis. The paper found, among other things, that the electoral violence, thuggery and other malpractices have not abated since the new democratic culture in 1999 till date as malpractices and violence have been widely reported in all the States of the Federation in virtually all the elections from Local Government Council to Presidential elections. It is worrisome, even as the courts have showed that elections in Nigerians are a very emotional and quarrelsome matter. It is a matter where Nigerians fight to finish. In spite of its enactment into the Nigerian Electoral Laws, malpractices and violence have not abated, but rather increased. The paper therefore recommends the setting up of Constitutional or Electoral Offences Court to try and punish perpetrators of election malpractices and violence. In addition, the legislature should strengthen the provisions relating to malpractices

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“…It was hoped that the new dawn of electoral politics in post military Nigeria was going to broaden the political space to accommodate all payers irrespective of ideological leaning or class station in the social hierarchy/strata. In other words, the evolving process of democratic tradition came with high expectations for opening the space to give opportunity for effective participation of the people as well as the political class in a competitive and lawful manner (Omotola: 2010).…”

Section: The New Wave Of Nigerian Democratizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identity conflicts as challenge to political stability in West Africa

Ayuba¹,

Danjuma²

2018

Afr. J. Pol. Sci. Int. Relat.

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This paper concerns itself with establishing the nexus between identity conflict and its impacts on socio-economic and political relations in the West African context. The effort is motivated by the observable incidences of incessant violent conflicts and wars; all fought on the basis of ethnic and religious fault lines that threaten the stability and cohesion of the sub region in its evolution towards becoming developed regional economic community. Because of the broad nature of the study area, the paper carefully selected Nigeria and Cote d' Ivoire as case studies. The choice is informed by the realization that these countries share a lot of similarities especially in the area of their diversities and poor management of this otherwise important agent of social mobilization and national development. The paper has argued that while identity is a major cause of violent conflicts and civil wars often leading to state failure, the same identity, if properly managed-through equitable distribution of welfare resources through the institution of democratic practices, states within the region can overcome their economic and political challenges as they advance in the 21st Century and beyond. The data used in the study were collected from diverse sources, including documentary sources (desk review) and government reports. Data collection from documentary sources involved the evaluation of relevant literature on themes bordering on West African political and socio-cultural systems (identity question)ethnicity, regionalism and religion. In addition, secession literature was also relied on to furnish the paper with relevant details on the subject which is a major theme of our discourse.

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Explaining electoral violence in Africa’s ‘new’ democracies

Cited by 39 publications

References 16 publications

Migrant transnationalism in violent democracies

Migrant transnationalism in violent democracies

An Appraisal of Electoral Malpractice and Violence as an Albatross in Nigerian’s Democratic Consolidation

Identity conflicts as challenge to political stability in West Africa

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