Contentious Land Narratives and the Nonescalation of Election Violence: Evidence from Kenya's coast region

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Periodical article

Title:	Contentious Land Narratives and the Nonescalation of Election Violence: Evidence from Kenya's coast region
Author:	Klaus, K.
Year:	2017
Periodical:	African Studies Review
Volume:	60
Issue:	2
Pages:	51-72
Geographic term:	Kenya
Discipline:	Political Science & Government
Subjects:	Land - use Land - tenure Elections Violence - political
Abstract:	This article examines the puzzle of the nonescalation of electoral violence. Drawing on evidence from Kenya's Coast and Rift Valley regions, the article argues that land narratives along the coast create few motives for people to participate in electoral violence because residents do not link their land rights with electoral outcomes. Politicians thus have far less power to use land narratives to organize violence. Two factors help account for this regional variation between the Rift Valley and the Coast: the strength of the political patron and the proportion of “outsiders” relative to “insiders.” (Journal Abstract).