Political conflict and domestic violence in Nigeria

This paper examines the effects of persistent political conflict on domestic violence in Nigeria and contributes to an emerging literature on the indirect effects of political conflict on the wellbeing of civilians. Using data from Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), I find that after controlling for omitted variable bias by using an appropriate instrument (distance from pre-colonial ethnic society border), increased exposure to political conflict leads to a higher incidence of domestic violence. One additional event of political conflict within a 20 Km buffer in the ten-year period preceding the year of interview implies a 9.3 percent increase in domestic violence with respect to the sample mean. The magnitude of the effect of political conflict on domestic violence increases when we consider a smaller time frame (of two years preceding the year of interview), as well as more intense events of political violence(high fatality events, events of battles and events involving violence against civilians) and decreases when we increase the size of the buffer zone. Political conflict also seems to reduce overall bargaining power or agency of women and increase the controlling behaviour of men. Thus, it is argued here that the increased violence is the consequence of reduced agency or autonomy of the victim and increased violent behaviour of the inflictor.