Dangerously informed: Voter information and pre-electoral violence in Africa
| Author | Patrick M Kuhn,Inken von Borzyskowski |
| Published date | 01 January 2020 |
| Date | 01 January 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022343319885166 |
| Subject Matter | Research Articles |
Research Articles
Dangerously informed: Voter information
and pre-electoral violence in Africa
Inken von Borzyskowski
Department of Political Science, University College London
Patrick M Kuhn
School of Government & International Affairs, Durham University
Abstract
A considerable literature examines the effect of voter information on candidate strategies and voter–politician inter-
actions in the developing world. The voter information literature argues that information can improve accountability
because more informed voters are harder to woo with traditional campaign tools, such as ethnic appeals and vote-
buying. However, this literature has largely ignored thereaction of political candidates and thus may reach conclusions
that are overly optimistic regarding the impact of information on electoral accountability. We argue that voter
information can increaseelectoral violence in developing countries wherepoliticians face fewer institutional constraints
on their campaign tactics. When violence is used as a campaign strategy, more informed electorates are more at risk
because they are harder to sway through alternative campaign techniques. Using data from 35 African countries, we
show that respondents receiving their news predominantly from newspapers are a good proxy for informed voters
because they differ in terms of their political attitudes from respondents consuming no news or receiving it via other
channels. Combining the geo-coded survey data with pre-electoral violence event data, we find a robust positive
association between newspaper readership and fear of and exposure to campaign violence. This finding contributes to
the micro-foundations of election violence and adds a cautionary note for voter information programs.
Keywords
Africa, campaigns, election violence, elections, information
Introduction
A considerable literature examines the effect of voter
information on candidate strategies and voter–politician
interactions in the developing world. Research shows
that uninformed voters are more prone to ethnic voting,
clientelistic politics, and vote buying (Chandra, 2004;
Posner, 2005; Kitschelt, 2000). In contrast, exposure
to information makes citizens less likely to sell their votes
(Banerjee et al., 2011; Vicente, 2014; Bratton, 2008;
Erlich, forthcoming; Nichter, 2008), less likely to vote
along ethnic lines (Ichino & Nathan, 2013; Banerjee
et al., 2010), and more critical of politicians’ campaign
promises (Ferraz & Finan, 2008) and campaign actions
(Gutie
´rrez-Romero & LeBas, 2020). All of this suggests
that exposure to information makes citizens harder to
woo by traditional means of campaigning, leading
researchers to conclude that voter information improves
political accountability (see Pande, 2011) and conse-
quently results in more responsible and more policy-
oriented politicians (Besley, 2006; Besley & Burgess,
2002). More recent studies cast doubt on the effective-
ness of information interventions but interestingly point
out that politicians believe that voter information inter-
ventions are effective, may change voter behavior, and
thus need to be countered, for example by undermining
the dissemination of negative information (Dunning
et al., 2019: 355–358). However, the literature has
largely ignored the responses of politicians (Pande,
2011: 233; Ashworth & Bueno de Mesquita, 2014),
Corresponding author:
p.m.kuhn@durham.ac.uk
Journal of Peace Research
2020, Vol. 57(1) 15–29
ªThe Author(s) 2020
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0022343319885166
journals.sagepub.com/home/jpr
To continue reading
Request your trial