Political violence, fear, and democracy: how violence shapes democracy in Mozambique

How does living in a violent context influence political participation, political behavior, and attitudes about democracy? Since the end of the Cold War, intrastate violence has increased across developing democracies. This growing violence has occurred in parallel with the proliferation of elections. Although today, in almost every country globally, citizens are afforded the chance to select their leadership, too often, bullets and ballots mix. The mix of voting and violence threatens the democratization process, undermines essential democratic institutions, and can lead to prolonged civil conflict. It is dangerous to the survival of democratic regimes and, in many ways, can be a path to upending or suspending democratic processes altogether. Political violence makes it difficult to establish peace and stability and strengthen citizen confidence in democracy. Despite the substantial literature on political behavior in Africa, we still do not fully understand how varying socio-political and socioeconomic contexts influence citizens' behaviors. Although cross-national studies have examined the influence of political and institutional contextual factors, such as electoral and party systems, on voter turnout, country-specific issues, like ongoing armed conflict or pervasive political violence, are not always included in these analyses. It is necessary to move beyond examining individual characteristics and include country-specific contextual factors that can explain voter behavior and attitudes about democracy within African countries. Individual characteristics alone do not tell the whole story, and by focusing solely on these variables, we miss out on a variety of social and political environmental factors that may shape how citizens behave and think. Based on theories stemming from the literatures on the legacies of civil war, terrorism, electoral violence, and political behavior, I argue that voter turnout, vote choice, and attitudes to democracy are shaped by the social and political contexts in which ...