From Violence to Voting: War and Political Participation in Uganda
Abstract
What is the political legacy of violent conflict? I present evidence for a link from past violence to increased political engagement among excombatants. The evidence comes from northern Uganda, where rebel recruitment generated quasiexperimental variation in who was conscripted by abduction. Survey data suggest that abduction leads to substantial increases in voting and community leadership, largely due to elevated levels of violence witnessed. Meanwhile, abduction and violence do not appear to affect nonpolitical participation. These patterns are not easily explained by conventional theories of participation, including mobilization by elites, differential costs, and altruistic preferences. Qualitative interviews suggest that violence may lead to personal growth and political activation, a possibility supported by psychological research on the positive effects of traumatic events. Although the generalizability of these results requires more evidence to judge, the findings challenge our understanding of political behavior and point to important new avenues of research.
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War experiences may increase participants' and victims' political and community participation, and many of them report post-trauma personal growth.
“Yet, war experiences also may increase participants' and victims' political and community participation, and many of them report post-trauma personal growth (Bellows and Miguel 2009; Blattman 2009).”
From Dynamics and Logics of Civil War (2017) · cites this paper as Blattman 2009
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- Authors
- BLATTMAN, C.
- Affiliations
- Yale University (US)
- Corresponding author
- BLATTMAN, CHRISTOPHER
- Venue
- American Political Science Review
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2009-05
- Volume
- 103
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 231-247
- ISSN
- 0003-0554 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5943
- OpenAlex
- W3125617973
- Cited by
- 898
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 42 · 2025: 52 · 2024: 49 · 2023: 96 · 2022: 66 · 2021: 50 · 2020: 90 · 2019: 76 · 2018: 82 · 2017: 60 · 2016: 38 · 2015: 44 · 2014: 32 · 2013: 46 · 2012: 32
- FWCI
- 79.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Political Science Review (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Conflict and Governance
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Peacebuilding and International Security
- Keywords
- political participation, ex-combatants, abduction, rebel recruitment, political violence, voting behavior, community leadership, Northern Uganda
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