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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 03/04
Electoral Conflict and Violence: A Strategy for Study and Prevention
Jeff Fischer
February 2002
Abstract
An electoral process is an alternative to violence as it is a means of achieving governance. It is when an electoral process is perceived as unfair, unresponsive, or corrupt, that its political legitimacy is compromised and stakeholders are motivated to go outside the established norms to achieve their objectives. Electoral conflict and violence become tactics in political competition.
There are examples of elections that have exacerbated long-term conflict (Angola 1992) or have politically hardened conflict-related alliances (Bosnia and Herzegovina 1996). From these experiences, it is generally recognized that post-conflict elections can be held too early and produce results that may extend the conflict rather than resolve it. However, in most cases, such elections mitigate the effects of larger conflict issues and reduce them into localized, manageable incidents.
