Voting in Fear: Electoral Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa

Eighteen African countries held presidential, primary, or legislative elections in 2011. Elections in eleven of these countries were marked by violence that ranged from low-level intimidation and harassment to more intensely violent displacement and death. Electoral violence of any kind can deter citizens from voting, discourage candidates from running for office, weaken civil society’s scrutiny of elections, and hurt the legitimacy of a government.

In Voting in Fear, nine contributors offer...