Mitigating election violence locally: UN peacekeepers’ election-education campaigns in Côte d’Ivoire
| Published date | 01 January 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022343319884993 |
| Date | 01 January 2020 |
| Author | Hannah Smidt |
| Subject Matter | Research Articles |
Mitigating election violence locally:
UN peacekeepers’ election-education
campaigns in Co
ˆte d’Ivoire
Hannah Smidt
Department for Political Science, University of Zurich & German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA)
Abstract
False information, rumours and hate speech can incite violent protest and rioting during electoral periods. To
counter such disinformation, United Nations peacekeeping operations (PKOs) routinely organize election-
education events. While researchers tend to study how PKOs affect armed group and state behaviour, this study
shifts the focus to civilians. It argues that PKOs’ election education reduces violent protest and rioting involving
civilians during electoral periods via three pathways. First, learning about PKOs’ electoral security assistance during
election-education events may convince people that political opponents cannot violently disturb elections, thereby
mitigating fears of election violence. Second, election-education events provide politically relevant information that
can strengthen political efficacy and people’s ability to make use of peaceful political channels. Finally, peace
messages during election-education events can change people’s calculus about the utility and appropriateness of
violent behaviour. Together, these activities mitigate fears, reduce political alienation and counter civilians’ willing-
ness to get involved in violence. To test these expectations, I combine survey data on people’ perceptions and
attitudes, events data on violent protest and rioting, and a novel dataset on local-level election-education events
carried out by the PKO in Co
ˆte d’Ivoire before four elections held between 2010 and 2016. The results show that
when the PKO is perceived to be an impartial arbiter, its election-education events have violence-mitigating effects at
the individual and subnational levels.
Keywords
civic education, Co
ˆte d’Ivoire, elections, election violence, peacekeeping
Introduction
Holding credible elections can serve as a stepping stone
to democratic governance in war-torn countries. Yet,
elections also heighten political competition and set
incentives for politicians to mobilize voters using disin-
formation campaigns. Such disinformation campaigns,
used here as a shorthand for false information, rumours
and hate speech, may cause fear and legitimize violence,
and contribute to escalating pre-existing tensi ons into
violent protests and riots, for example coercive collective
actions directed towards members of other distinct
groups or government authorities (Human Rights
Watch, 1995; Snyder, 2000: 37; Wilkinson, 2004:
23–26; Burchard, 2015). Civilians often have agency
in executing or preventing violent protests and riots
(Krause, 2017; Varshney, 2002). But it is important to
note that politicians also use ‘violence specialists’ to
establish ‘institutionalized riot systems’ (Brass, 1997:
15–16), and the behaviour of state security forces helps
prevent or provoke rioting, too (Wilkinson, 2004).
The United Nations recognizes that disinformation
poses an obstacle to peaceful elections. As Figure 1
shows, election education to counter disinformation has
become a prominent election violence prevention tool
for United Nations peacekeeping operations (PKOs) (cf.
Blair & Smidt, 2019, for data in Africa). Election-
education events combine civic and peace education
Corresponding author:
hannah.smidt@uzh.ch
Journal of Peace Research
2020, Vol. 57(1) 199–216
ªThe Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/0022343319884993
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focused on elections. They are organized by PKOs’ civil-
ian personnel and provide ordinary people and local
leaders in specific towns and villages with information
on PKOs’ mandate and the viability, utility and appro-
priateness of peaceful political behaviour. But do
election-education campaigns contribute to peaceful
elections in war-torn countries?
I argue that election-education events help people
resist disinformation campaigns and, consequently,
reduce election violence in the forms of violent protests
and riots. First, learning about PKOs’ mandate to secure
elections may convince people that opponents cannot
violently disturb elections, thereby reducing fear and
related motives for violence. Second, information on the
viability of peaceful political participation can increase
political efficacy, loweri ng incentives for politica l vio-
lence. Third, peace messages highlighting the utility and
appropriateness of nonviolence introduce an alternative
framing that contradicts disinformation campaigns and
discourages the use of violent means. However, only if
PKOs are perceived to be impartial will their interven-
tions change people’s attitudes and reduce violent protest
and rioting.
The argument is explored using novel data on PKOs’
election-education events in 107 departments (third-tier
administrative units) in Co
ˆte d’Ivoire between 2010 and
2016. Matching methods address the non-random loca-
tion and timing of election-education events. Survey and
event data analyses provide evidence for the argument: if
the PKO is perceived to be impartial, election education
decreases protests and riots during electoral periods and
mitigates people’s fear, strengthens their political efficacy
and reduces their intention to use violence.
Co
ˆte d’Ivoire fulfils the scope conditions of the argu-
ment and thus serves as an ideal case to study it. First,
different forms of election violence – including violent
protests and riots – have accompanied elections since the
introduction of multiparty politics in the West African
country. Importantly, while militias and security forces
often play a decisive role in the violent escalation of
protests, civilians such as party members and youths are
also involved and have agency in violent protests and
riots in Co
ˆte d’Ivoire. If ‘violence specialists’ were solely
responsible for this violence, election-education events –
aimed at civilians – would remain ineffective. Second,
grievances associated with contested land ownership,
political discrimination and socio-economic group
inequalities, among other factors, are underlying deter-
minants of violent protests and riots. Yet, these grie-
vances are attenuated by politicians’ disinformation
campaigns during electoral periods (Akindes, 2004:
34–40; Langer, 2005: 32). Therefore, election-
education events may address one specific source of elec-
tion violence.
The article contributes to the literature on peacekeep-
ing and election violence. First, effective peacebuilding
requires a transformation of the attitudes and behaviours
of people locally (Stedman, 2002: 20). Yet, case studies
suggest that peacekeepers often remain ineffective at
transforming attitudes and behaviours because they lack
sensitivity to local contexts (Autesserre, 2014; Pouligny,
2000). Specific activities of PKOs have, however,
received little systematic scrutiny. Evaluating election-
education events locally may add nuance to the debate
on the local turn in international peacebuilding. Second,
previous works have presented mixed results on whether
PKOs build peace and foster democratization simultane-
ously (Steinert & Grimm, 2015; Doyle & Sambanis,
2006; Heldt, 2011; Fortna, 2008; Paris, 2004). By
focusing on election education, this article examines one
possible mechanism of how PKOs contribute to peaceful
democratization. Third, we know that election educa-
tion can have security-enhancing effects in usually peace-
ful environments (Collier & Vicente, 2014). This study
investigates whether this finding translates to war-torn
countries.
Information, election violence and
peacekeeping intervention
Civic education plays a crucial role in ensuring fair elec-
tions in usually peaceful countries (Pande, 2011, for an
Figure 1. Number of elections in Africa with a PKO (not)
engaged in election education
200 journal of PEACE RESEARCH 57(1)
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