Why do youth participate in violence in Africa? A review of evidence

“The Country Is on One Leg”: An Analysis of Secondary Educated Youths’ Perceptions of the Risks, Challenges, and Opportunities of the Peacebuilding Process in Côte d’Ivoire

“…We argued in this respect that youths’ experiences during the peacebuilding process and their perceptions of that process and its achievements determine to a large extent whether or not youths might think of violence as their only “bargaining chip” in the near or more long-term future. Commonly characterized either as “idealists” or “criminal opportunists” (Murphy 2003), we emphasized that the identities of post-conflict youths are dynamic in practice and their political involvement contingent on the structure, opportunities, and precarity of the post-conflict environment (Berckmoes 2014; McMullin 2022; Olawale & ‘Funwi 2021). For this reason, we examined the peace perceptions of a large and heterogenous group of young men and women, instead of focusing on (formerly) mobilized youths only, as is the general tendency in youth-focused conflict scholarship.…”

“…A common and widely researched hypothesis is that high fertility and large youth cohorts, so-called “youth bulges,” make countries more prone to experience (renewed) violent conflict, especially when young people lack socioeconomic opportunities (Cincotta & Weber 2021; Urdal 2012; Schwartz 2010; see Olawale & ‘Funmi 2021 for an Africa-focused review; and Haer & Bohmelt 2016 for a study focusing on conflict recurrence in particular) 1 . At the micro-level too, such a lack is commonly identified as a “grievance” or a “push factor” which may contribute toward explaining patterns of participation in violent conflict (Haer 2019; Humphreys & Weinstein 2008).…”

Youth and Peacebuilding: Policy Implications of Conflict Resolution in Africa

“…The involvement of youth in violence can be viewed as a result of the grievance, as a result of non-representation and marginalization from decision-making. 43 That is, the prevalence of exclusion from the governance processes leads to frustration and aggression, which increases the chances of youth participation in violent activities. The agitation of youth against inequality in Northern Mali, Kenya, and Niger Delta, as well as against marginalization from education and politics in Sierra Leone, indicates how the nuanced interpretation of how exclusion and frustration of youth engender violence.…”

“…The agitation of youth against inequality in Northern Mali, Kenya, and Niger Delta, as well as against marginalization from education and politics in Sierra Leone, indicates how the nuanced interpretation of how exclusion and frustration of youth engender violence. 44 That is, youth-restricted access to education, skill development, training, and economic opportunities constitutes a challenge to sustainable peace. Concerning education, more than half of the African countries recorded a decline in their quality of education, while a majority of their citizens (51.5%) lack access to lower secondary school education.…”

Electoral proximity, political violence, and personal wellbeing: An experimental analysis in West Africa

“…Recent waves of political violence, like the Arab Spring (Massoud et al, 2019), reveal the significance of informal and formal institutions as factors that will act like a cause and/or a catalyst for political violence. Young men resisting authoritarian regimes in the Arab Spring further suggests that there are demographic factors underlying political violence that ignite in certain institutional settings (Cincotta et al, 2003; Ismail & Olonisakin, 2021; Urdal, 2006; Weber, 2019).…”