IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/amposc/v61y2017i2p382-395.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Strategic Shuffle: Ethnic Geography, the Internal Security Apparatus, and Elections in Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • Mai Hassan

Abstract

For autocrats facing elections, officers in the internal security apparatus play a crucial role by engaging in coercion on behalf of the incumbent. Yet reliance on these officers introduces a principal‐agent problem: Officers can shirk from the autocrat's demands. To solve this problem, autocrats strategically post officers to different areas based on an area's importance to the election and the expected loyalty of an individual officer, which is a function of the officer's expected benefits from the president winning reelection. Using a data set of 8,000 local security appointments within Kenya in the 1990s, one of the first of its kind for any autocracy, I find that the president's coethnic officers were sent to, and the opposition's coethnic officers were kept away from, swing areas. This article demonstrates how state institutions from a country's previous authoritarian regime can persist despite the introduction of multi‐party elections and thus prevent full democratization.

Suggested Citation

  • Mai Hassan, 2017. "The Strategic Shuffle: Ethnic Geography, the Internal Security Apparatus, and Elections in Kenya," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 61(2), pages 382-395, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:61:y:2017:i:2:p:382-395
    DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12279
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12279
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ajps.12279?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lakshmi Iyer & Anandi Mani, 2012. "Traveling Agents: Political Change and Bureaucratic Turnover in India," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(3), pages 723-739, August.
    2. Georgy Egorov & Konstantin Sonin, 2011. "Dictators And Their Viziers: Endogenizing The Loyalty–Competence Trade‐Off," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(5), pages 903-930, October.
    3. Posner,Daniel N., 2005. "Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521541794.
    4. Kasara, Kimuli, 2007. "Tax Me If You Can: Ethnic Geography, Democracy, and the Taxation of Agriculture in Africa," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 101(1), pages 159-172, February.
    5. Daniel Branch & Nicholas Cheeseman, 2006. "The politics of control in Kenya: Understanding the bureaucratic-executive state, 1952--78," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(107), pages 11-31, March.
    6. Michael J. Hanmer & Kerem Ozan Kalkan, 2013. "Behind the Curve: Clarifying the Best Approach to Calculating Predicted Probabilities and Marginal Effects from Limited Dependent Variable Models," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(1), pages 263-277, January.
    7. Min,Brian, 2015. "Power and the Vote," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107525382.
    8. Hafner-Burton, Emilie M. & Hyde, Susan D. & Jablonski, Ryan S., 2014. "When Do Governments Resort to Election Violence?," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(1), pages 149-179, January.
    9. Ndegwa, Stephen N., 1997. "Citizenship and Ethnicity: An Examination of Two Transition Moments in Kenyan Politics," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 91(3), pages 599-616, September.
    10. Ichino, Nahomi & Nathan, Noah L., 2013. "Crossing the Line: Local Ethnic Geography and Voting in Ghana," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 107(2), pages 344-361, May.
    11. Posner,Daniel N., 2005. "Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521833981.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tara Slough & Christopher Fariss, 2021. "Misgovernance and Human Rights: The Case of Illegal Detention without Intent," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 65(1), pages 148-165, January.
    2. Simson, Rebecca & Harris, J. Andrew, 2022. "Diversity and liberalisation reforms: Evidence from the University of Nairobi," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. Travis B. Curtice & Brandon Behlendorf, 2021. "Street-level Repression: Protest, Policing, and Dissent in Uganda," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 65(1), pages 166-194, January.
    4. Jiang, Junyan & Zhang, Muyang, 2020. "Friends with benefits: Patronage networks and distributive politics in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    5. Ferree, Karen E. & Gibson, Clark C. & Long, James D., 2021. "Mixed records, complexity, and ethnic voting in African elections," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    6. Charles Crabtree & Holger L Kern & David A Siegel, 2020. "Cults of personality, preference falsification, and the dictator’s dilemma," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 32(3), pages 409-434, July.
    7. Adam Scharpf & Christian Gläßel, 2020. "Why Underachievers Dominate Secret Police Organizations: Evidence from Autocratic Argentina," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(4), pages 791-806, October.
    8. Michael Wahman & Edward Goldring, 2020. "Pre-election violence and territorial control: Political dominance and subnational election violence in polarized African electoral systems," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 57(1), pages 93-110, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero & Adrienne LeBas, 2020. "Does electoral violence affect vote choice and willingness to vote? Conjoint analysis of a vignette experiment," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 57(1), pages 77-92, January.
    2. Inken von Borzyskowski & Patrick M Kuhn, 2020. "Dangerously informed: Voter information and pre-electoral violence in Africa," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 57(1), pages 15-29, January.
    3. Eun Kyung Kim, 2018. "Sector-based vote choice: A new approach to explaining core and swing voters in Africa," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 21(1), pages 28-50, March.
    4. Jeremy Bowles & Horacio Larreguy & Shelley Liu, 2020. "How Weakly Institutionalized Parties Monitor Brokers in Developing Democracies: Evidence from Postconflict Liberia," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(4), pages 952-967, October.
    5. Robin Burgess & Remi Jedwab & Edward Miguel & Ameet Morjaria & Gerard Padró i Miquel, 2015. "The Value of Democracy: Evidence from Road Building in Kenya," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(6), pages 1817-1851, June.
    6. De Luca, Giacomo & Hodler, Roland & Raschky, Paul A. & Valsecchi, Michele, 2018. "Ethnic favoritism: An axiom of politics?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 115-129.
    7. Johan Brosché & Hanne Fjelde & Kristine Höglund, 2020. "Electoral violence and the legacy of authoritarian rule in Kenya and Zambia," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 57(1), pages 111-125, January.
    8. Briggs, Ryan C., 2021. "Power to which people? Explaining how electrification targets voters across party rotations in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    9. Franck, Raphaã‹L & Rainer, Ilia, 2012. "Does the Leader's Ethnicity Matter? Ethnic Favoritism, Education, and Health in Sub-Saharan Africa," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 106(2), pages 294-325, May.
    10. Ole Magnus Theisen & Håvard Strand & Gudrun Østby, 2020. "Ethno-political favouritism in maternal health care service delivery: Micro-level evidence from sub-Saharan Africa, 1981–2014," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 23(1), pages 3-27, March.
    11. Eric Kramon & Sarah Baird & Joan Hamory & Edward Miguel, 2021. "Deepening or Diminishing Ethnic Divides? The Impact of Urban Migration in Kenya," Working Papers 2021-08, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    12. Bluhm, Richard & Hodler, Roland & Schaudt, Paul, 2021. "Local majorities: How administrative divisions shape comparative development," Economics Working Paper Series 2110, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    13. Patrick Francois & Ilia Rainer & Francesco Trebbi, 2014. "The Dictator's Inner Circle," NBER Working Papers 20216, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. David F Damore & Michelle Kuenzi, 2019. "Executive turnovers in sub-Saharan Africa," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 21-40, March.
    15. Ahlerup, Pelle & Sundström, Aksel & Jagers, Sverker C & Sjöstedt, Martin, 2023. "Drought and Political Trust," Working Papers in Economics 832, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    16. repec:cep:stieop:45 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Jori Breslawski & Brandon Ives, 2019. "Killing for God? Factional Violence on the Transnational Stage," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 63(3), pages 617-643, March.
    18. Kao, Kristen & Lust, Ellen & Rakner, Lise, 2022. "Vote-buying, anti-corruption campaigns, and identity in African elections," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    19. Ferree, Karen E. & Gibson, Clark C. & Long, James D., 2021. "Mixed records, complexity, and ethnic voting in African elections," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    20. Elena Perra, 2022. "Road to Division: Ethnic Favouritism in the Provision of Road Infrastructure in Ethiopia," Working Papers - Economics wp2022_01.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:61:y:2017:i:2:p:382-395. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1540-5907 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.