국가와 정치 폭력: 아프리카인들의 시각

Abstract

Political violence has emerged as one of Africa's most pressing security issues and recent events in Kenya, Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria point to the salience of the phenomenon. Existing studies argue that the weak and incapacitated nature of African states is a significant factor contributing to high levels of political violence. Yet this insight does not help us to understand which aspect of a weak state affects political violence. This study attempts to bridge this gap in the literature by specifying which aspects of state weakness influence political violence. Using Afrobarometer survey data, this study identifies and measures citizens’ perceptions of the dimensions of state weakness and explores how these popular attitudes shape perceptions of the use of violence for political purposes. We find that widespread crime and insecurity, lack of state legitimacy, inadequate protection of private property and the existence of group grievances vis a vis the state are strongly associated with popular acceptability of political violence. However, we do not find any significant effect of weak presence of the state and poor provision of public goods on an individual’s proclivity to engage in political violence.