Logo: to the web site of Uppsala University

How does rapid urban growth affect the risk of electoral violence in African cities? Across the continent, societies have been undergoing simultaneous processes that may affect the risk of violent upheaval: democratic change and urbanization. However, although electoral violence often disproportionally affects cities, we do not know if and how the process of urban growth in itself impacts such violence. Existing research highlights that urbanization holds a strong potential for progress and democracy-enhancement, but also for destructive and violence-inducing dynamics. Drawing on collective action theory, I develop a theoretical argument about the relationship between urban growth and the mobilization of electoral violence. I hypothesize that rapid city growth conditions elites’ strategic incentives to employ electoral violence, and may increase the risk of such violence through two mechanisms: by increasing uncertainty about local election outcomes, and by making it easier for politicians to mobilize violence based on grievances among urban groups. I assess these expectations by using georeferenced data on electoral violence, covering democratic elections in Africa (1990–2012), and matching it with data on the urban growth pace of all cities with at least 50,000 inhabitants. This approach avoids the pitfalls of focusing only on major cities, and enables an analysis of both cross- and within state dynamics. Using this approach, I identify a robust correlation between the pace of urban population growth and the risk of electoral violence in the city. Extended analysis indicates that urban growth is associated with a higher risk of election violence in larger, more established cities (including both major and secondary cities), but not in smaller, emerging cities.

In contexts of high insecurity and mistrust in the police, how and why do local residents still choose to collaborate with the police, and what is the role of community policing in such considerations? Research on policing in Africa has emphasized the structural and macropolitical barriers to effective police reform, including institutionalized cultures of impunity and corruption. Less attention, however, has been paid to the contextual and relational dynamics that shape police-community collaboration. We argue that a relational perspective, which centres local residents’ interactions with police and community policing structures, provides novel insights into the challenges of policing reforms. This perspective also demonstrates how contingent and incremental trust can be built in very challenging circumstances. We study these dynamics in Karagita and Kaptembwo, two low-income urban settlements in Nakuru County, Kenya, that have experienced violent crime and repeated electoral violence. Despite considerable challenges of crime, police misconduct, and political interference in these settlements, our findings point to how positive everyday interaction and community policing structures can contribute to incremental improvements in police-community relationships. In contrast to existing work on African policing that primarily highlights the challenges of police reform, this study offers insights into when reform has the potential to be effective.

Violent protests and ethno-communal violence in Ethiopia have been on the rise since 2015. Whilst the country’s capital has mostly been spared, protests have occurred in areas surrounding the capital, its suburbs and, to a lesser extent, even in its city centre. This article aims to answer how Addis Ababa residents make sense of and (dis)engage from/in violent protests and ethno-communal violence where they occur. The article explores the perceptions and experiences of established middle-class residents in the capital, drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between June 2020 and May 2021. The article finds that, due to the city’s multi-ethnic character and the residents’ strong metropolitan identity, ethnic identity has not constituted a powerful tool for political mobilisation of residents within the capital. Claims based on ethnicity made by non-residents towards the capital’s resources have largely been rejected by Addis Ababans. Instead, residents have collectively defended their right to the city. The federal state’s readiness to intervene in protests in the capital has further discouraged and countered public protests and communal conflicts. The article reveals that, whilst ‘exceptional’ at the first glance, the peaceful normality of Addis Ababa has relied on ignoring conflicts within Ethiopia’s ethnic-based political settlement and has hidden ordinary, everyday forms of structural violence and conflict.