IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jocore/v62y2018i8p1686-1726.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Promoting Political Participation in War-torn Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Eric Mvukiyehe

Abstract

This article uses original survey data to study the effects of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) on the political attitudes and behaviors of ordinary Liberians. Three results emerge: (i) UNMIL has positive, statistically significant effects on political participation measured over multiple outcome indicators; (ii) UNMIL’s effects display heterogeneity across individual outcome indicators, most positive effects are concentrated around measures associated with participation in national politics as well as political interest and efficacy, while the effects on participation in local politics are mixed; and (iii) self-reported measures of citizens’ interactions with UNMIL military personnel and exposure to democracy and to human rights campaigns carried out by international actors have strong positive associations with political participation, suggesting that results are driven by security and nonsecurity mechanisms. This article discusses the implications of these findings and areas for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric Mvukiyehe, 2018. "Promoting Political Participation in War-torn Countries," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 62(8), pages 1686-1726, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:62:y:2018:i:8:p:1686-1726
    DOI: 10.1177/0022002717698019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022002717698019
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0022002717698019?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. Gilligan, Michael J. & Sergenti, Ernest J., 2008. "Do UN Interventions Cause Peace? Using Matching to Improve Causal Inference," Quarterly Journal of Political Science, now publishers, vol. 3(2), pages 89-122, July.
    2. del Castillo, Graciana, 2008. "Rebuilding War-Torn States: The Challenge of Post-Conflict Economic Reconstruction," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199237739.
    3. Michael J. Gilligan & Benjamin J. Pasquale & Cyrus Samii, 2014. "Civil War and Social Cohesion: Lab‐in‐the‐Field Evidence from Nepal," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 58(3), pages 604-619, July.
    4. Macartan Humphreys & Jeremy M. Weinstein, 2007. "Demobilization and Reintegration," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 51(4), pages 531-567, August.
    5. Timothy Besley & Robin Burgess, 2002. "The Political Economy of Government Responsiveness: Theory and Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1415-1451.
    6. Paul Collier & Pedro C. Vicente, 2014. "Votes and Violence: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Nigeria," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(574), pages 327-355, February.
    7. Doyle, Michael W. & Sambanis, Nicholas, 2000. "International Peacebuilding: A Theoretical and Quantitative Analysis," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 94(4), pages 779-801, December.
    8. Blattman, Christopher & Hartman, Alexandra C. & Blair, Robert A., 2014. "How to Promote Order and Property Rights under Weak Rule of Law? An Experiment in Changing Dispute Resolution Behavior through Community Education," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 108(1), pages 100-120, February.
    9. Paul Collier, 1994. "Demobilization and insecurity: A study in the economics of the transition from war to peace," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 6(3), pages 343-351, May.
    10. Blattman, Christopher, 2009. "From Violence to Voting: War and Political Participation in Uganda," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 103(2), pages 231-247, May.
    11. Mvukiyehe, Eric & Samii, Cyrus, 2017. "Promoting Democracy in Fragile States: Field Experimental Evidence from Liberia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 254-267.
    12. Jeffrey R Kling & Jeffrey B Liebman & Lawrence F Katz, 2007. "Experimental Analysis of Neighborhood Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(1), pages 83-119, January.
    13. de Mesquita, Bruce Bueno & Downs, George W., 2006. "Intervention and Democracy," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 60(3), pages 627-649, July.
    14. Leonard, Wantchekon, 2004. "The Paradox of “Warlord†Democracy: A Theoretical Investigation," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 98(1), pages 17-33, February.
    15. B Bigombe & P Collier & N Sambanis, 2000. "Policies for building post-conflict peace," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 9(3), pages 323-348.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Mvukiyehe, Eric & Samii, Cyrus, 2017. "Promoting Democracy in Fragile States: Field Experimental Evidence from Liberia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 254-267.
    2. Qin, Wei & Liang, Quanxi & Jiao, Yan & Lu, Meiting & Shan, Yaowen, 2022. "Social trust and dividend payouts: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    3. Michal Bauer & Christopher Blattman & Julie Chytilová & Joseph Henrich & Edward Miguel & Tamar Mitts, 2016. "Can War Foster Cooperation?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 249-274, Summer.
    4. Muhsin Ali & Karim Khan, 2023. "Violent Conflict and Informal Institutions: Evidence from a Civil Conflict in Pakistan (Article)," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 62(2), pages 235-264.
    5. Olivier Sterck, 2020. "Fighting for Votes: Theory and Evidence on the Causes of Electoral Violence," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 87(347), pages 844-883, July.
    6. Unfried, Kerstin & Ibañez Diaz, Marcela & Restrepo-Plazaz, Lina Maria, 2022. "Discrimination in post-conflict settings: Experimental evidence from Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    7. Hannah Smidt, 2020. "Mitigating election violence locally: UN peacekeepers’ election-education campaigns in Côte d’Ivoire," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 57(1), pages 199-216, January.
    8. Travers Barclay Child & Elena Nikolova, 2017. "War and Social Attitudes: Revisiting Consensus Views," HiCN Working Papers 258, Households in Conflict Network.
    9. Christa Brunnschweiler & Nanang Kurniawan & Paivi Lujalac & Primi Putri & Sabrina Scherzer & Indah Wardhani, 2023. "The right to benefit: Using videos to encourage citizen involvement in resource revenue management," University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series 2023-06, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    10. Christopher Blattman & Edward Miguel, 2010. "Civil War," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 3-57, March.
    11. Elisa Mougin, 2021. "Three essays in the political economy of information [Trois essais en économie politique de l’information]," SciencePo Working papers Main tel-03537938, HAL.
    12. 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.
    13. Achyuta Adhvaryu & James Fenske, 2014. "Conflict and the Formation of Political Beliefs in Africa," HiCN Working Papers 164, Households in Conflict Network.
    14. Jacob D. Kathman, 2013. "United Nations peacekeeping personnel commitments, 1990–2011," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 30(5), pages 532-549, November.
    15. Elisa Mougin, 2021. "Three essays in the political economy of information [Trois essais en économie politique de l’information]," SciencePo Working papers tel-03537938, HAL.
    16. Hannah Smidt, 2021. "Keeping electoral peace? Activities of United Nations peacekeeping operations and their effects on election-related violence," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 38(5), pages 580-604, September.
    17. Eric Mvukiyehe & Cyrus Samii, 2021. "Peacekeeping and development in fragile states: Micro-level evidence from Liberia," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 58(3), pages 368-383, May.
    18. Matthew Osborne & Ben D’Exelle & Arjan Verschoor, 2018. "Truly reconciled? A dyadic analysis of post-conflict social reintegration in Northern Uganda," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 55(1), pages 107-121, January.
    19. Denny,Elaine Kathryn & Dow,David & Levy,Gabriella & Villamizar-Chaparro,Mateo, 2022. "Extortion and Civic Engagement among Guatemalan Deportees," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10020, The World Bank.
    20. Grácio, Matilde & Vicente, Pedro C., 2021. "Information, get-out-the-vote messages, and peer influence: Causal effects on political behavior in Mozambique," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).

    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:sae:jocore:v:62:y:2018:i:8:p:1686-1726. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://pss.la.psu.edu/ .

    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.