Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Post election violence'

The field of ethnic conflict studies is dominated by top-down approaches and elite-centric analyses that emphasise the social construction of group grievances, fears and hatreds, and that highlight the central role played by political entrepreneurs in the manipulation of ethnicity and the organisation of violence. Whilst offering valuable explanations of the macro-context of conflict, existing theories obscure local level agency and oversimplify the nature and dynamics of violence on the ground. The aerial perspective creates the illusion of homogenous ethnic groups waging battle along a clearly defined and stable cleavage line, and it fails to account for localised manipulations of, and individualised resistance to, the macro-ethnic divide. This thesis offers a view of violence from below, complexifying, problematising, and nuancing existing theories through a close-grained, thick descriptive analysis of a particular case. A detailed ethnographic exploration of the localised dimensions of the 2007-2008 post-election crisis in Kenya reveals socio-spatial variations in violence dynamics, as well as localised and individualised contradictions in involvement and participation, that are not easily explained by the dominant perspective. It argues that territories with a clear ethnic majority experienced more intense violence than ethnically mixed spaces, which remained relatively calm and demonstrated greater levels of inter-ethnic cooperation. It further highlights the ambiguities of individual involvement, arguing that local level actors can transcend the meta-narrative of ethnic animosity for a variety of reasons and in a variety of ways. The thesis concludes that cases of ethnic conflict are not marked by singularity and uniformity, but rather by multi-vocality and complexity. They are not coherent and singular conflicts but rather are constituted by multiple locally-ethnicised clashes. Thus, the thesis contributes to the broader project of generating more comprehensive and representative understandings of ethnic violence by exploring the localised proces

In December 2007, Kenya held a presidential election. The incumbent was Mwai Kibaki of the Party of National Unity (PNU). His political opponent was Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). The vote was peaceful and described by many in positive terms; that is, a continuation of the positive democratic transition that Kenya began toward the end of the 1990s. However, many in Kenya accused the government of foul play, when the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) delayed declaring a winner for two days. The ECK eventually declared Kibaki President, and rushed the swearing - in ceremony, skipping the stipulated 72 hours. Two days after declaring Kibaki president, Samuel Kivuitu, the chair of the ECK, admitted he did not know whether Kibaki had won the elections. He insisted that he had agreed to release the results and announce Kibaki as president, under pressure from above. Kenya then experienced its worst bout of violence since the Mau Mau rebellion, before independence. The Post - Election Violence (PEV) lasted two months. It was resolved following an agreement, the Kenya National and Reconciliation Dialogue (K N D R), negotiated by a Panel of Eminent Personalities. The fighting parties agreed to form a Government of National Unity (GNU), a Commission of Enquiry into the Post - Election Violence (CIPEV) and an Independent Review Commission on the General elections (Kriegler Commission). The GNU was to have Kibaki reinstated as President, to add the post of Prime Minister for Odinga, and was to undertake a reconciliation and accountability process, prosecuting perpetrators. This thesis seeks to determine what were the politics that led Kenya to prosecute those who bore greatest responsibility for the PEV. More specifically, what were the politics that resulted in selecting the ICC, as the court where individuals were going to be held accountable?

In December 2007, Kenya held what by all accounts were historic presidential, parliamentary and local elections which pitted the then President Mwai Kibaki and his Party of National Unity (PNU) against Mr. Raila Odinga, the leader of the Orange Democratic Party (ODM), Mr. Kalonzo Musyoka, head of ODM-Kenya, and six other candidates. There was however, even before the elections were in progress, several indicators of conflict such as pervasive use of inflammatory campaign rhetoric. Within minutes of the Electoral Commission of Kenya’s declaration of President Kibaki's victory, tribe-based rioting and violence broke out across the country. The results announced showed both a rapid disintegration of Odinga’s previously large lead during the tallying of votes, and a 2.5% margin between the two leading candidates. As a result, suspicions of tampering were high, not least because the opposition had won 99 seats to PNU’s 43 at the parliamentary level.
Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2010.
A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Paulo Comoane of the Faculty of Law, University of Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Mozambique. 2010.
http://www.chr.up.ac.za/
Centre for Human Rights
LLM

The fast-growing Internet platform in Africa has given opportunities to a new set of non-state actors to offer nonviolent intervention in addressing protracted conflicts with the use of new media technology/new media. As a departure from a state-centric approach to addressing conflict in Africa, this interdisciplinary study explores the contribution of the public in responding to armed conflicts through citizen journalism. To unearth some of the youth-led nonviolent digital innovations, this research explores the new media technology platform, Ushahidi, which was developed as a response to Kenya’s 2008 post-election violence, as a case study. Using qualitative methods, data was gathered through unstructured in-depth interviews of the Ushahidi’s founders, Kenyan bloggers and partner organisations as well as intermediary groups consisting of professional journalists, writers and civil society activists. The data was analysed using thematic analysis techniques, and revealed how new media technologies are a ‘double-edged sword’, offering opportunities for netizens to both contribute to the instigation of conflict and conflict transformation. The data showed the transformative role the Ushahidi platform played during Kenya’s electoral violence through crisis mapping, the early warning multi-agent consortium, a constitutional referendum and election monitoring. Evidence also emerged regarding the pioneer work of Ushahidi in other nonviolent technological involvements in addressing crisis in Kenya. The evidence allowed for comprehensive understanding of the emergence of new actors in conflict transformation with the use of the new media technology and what Ushahidi offers in terms of people-centred approach to peace processes in Kenya.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017.
Political Sciences
PhD
Unrestricted

This study examines the relationship between popular support for the Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK), which is an ethnic insurgent and terrorist organization mainly operating in Turkey, and its terrorist activities during the pre-and post-election periods in Turkey . Popular support has been measured through popular votes for the political party affiliated with the PKK in 1999 general, 2004 local and 2007 general elections. Two leading theories of social movements, Resource Mobilization Theory (RMT) and Relative Deprivation Theory (RD), were used as theoretical approach. The study uses secondary data and constructs a longitudinal design. An advanced statistical analysis technique, a generalized hierarchical linear model: time nested within subjects (or GHLM repeated measures) was employed in this study. Findings indicate that popular support is positively related to terrorist attacks of the PKK in Turkey. More popular support for the insurgent leads to more terrorist attacks. Furthermore, terrorist attacks gradually increased over the pre-election period of general elections. However, terrorist attacks abruptly increased upon the election but then subsequent terrorist attacks decline over the post-election periods.

この論文は、ケニアの選挙後の暴力の年表に焦点を当てています。それがどのように始まり、頂点に達し、減少、そして再発を探ります。ケニアで2008年に創設された真実、正義、和解委員会は、独立後35年間の過去の人権不正と不正行為を文書化に行なった。複数の要因が組み合わされ、複数政党の大統領選挙で暴力を引き起こします。政府が問題の一部であるため、委員会による良心的な最終報告書と勧告は保留中です。
This thesis focuses on the chronology of post-election violence in Kenya. It explores how it started, peaked, faded, and returned. The Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission created in 2008 in Kenya documents 35 years of past human rights injustices and malpractices from independence in 1963. Multiple factors combine and trigger violence in multiparty presidential elections. The conscientious final reports and recommendations by the Commission remain in limbo as the government is part of the problem. Unequally shared land resources and a grave presidential contest cause post-election violence. Empowering the Supreme Court is a necessity for fair justice.
博士(グローバル社会研究)
Doctor of Philosophy in Global Society Studies
同志社大学
Doshisha University

This thesis explores how peace journalism (PJ) translates into practice in the Kenyan media environment. Through the personal accounts of practicing reporters in Kenya, this research reveals the challenges and opportunities Kenyan journalist-participants faced while covering the 2013 presidential election. Through their personal experiences, this research reveals reporters were working in an exceptionally challenging media environment; one significantly shaped by the 2007 election and post-election violence. Participants identified numerous constraints that shaped their reporting practices, including structural constraints within their newsrooms and societal constraints in relation to ethnic identity. This thesis concludes that PJ has yet to offer sufficient concrete or practical solutions addressing these influencing factors, largely because of an overestimation of the agency journalists possess. Therefore, this research validates an existing body of research that suggests there is a need for PJ to consider factors outside of journalists themselves, which may constrain their work. The objective of the research is not to discredit the value of the tools PJ offers, but rather draw attention to the notion that those tools alone are insufficient.

Kenya&rsquo
s December 2007 Presidential elections sparked a wave of violent clashes over allegations of election rigging. The protests broke out along ethnic lines, causing greater civil unrest. There have been allegations that during these outbreaks of violence crimes against humanity were committed. This violence attracted world-wide concern and was universally condemned. Kenya is loathe to prosecute the perpetrators or those who bear the highest responsibility for the alleged commission of crimes against humanity. It has instead established a national investigatory mechanism, the Kenyan Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (hereafter TJRC). This approach adopted by Kenya has been criticized for the fact that it fosters a culture of impunity. However, the Prosecutor of International Criminal Court (hereafter ICC) has used his proprio motu powers to initiate an investigation of alleged commission of crimes that fall within the jurisdiction of the Court. This research paper has analysed the reasons for the proprio motu intervention of the ICC in Kenyan situation. It also examined whether Kenya was unwilling or genuinely unable to prosecute the perpetrators of the post-election violence of 2007. Furthermore, the paper 
evaluated the provisions of the Kenyan TJRC, the major shortcomings of the Commission and the challenges it is facing in fulfilling its mandate. In conclusion the paper analysed the relationship between TJRC and ICC and re-evaluate any role that the two bodies could play in dispensing justice in Kenya. But before that, the paper laid down the factual 
background that led to the proprio motu interevention of the ICC in Kenya where a truth commission had alreday been established.

 

This thesis starts by arguing that the civil conflicts that erupted in the African Great Lakes are rooted in a continuous pursuit of power, in which ethnic, regional and political identifiers are used by the contenders for power to rally community support. In an introductory chapter, I go back to the colonial era, drawing attention to Burundi and Rwanda, and then describe in more details Burundi's refugee crisis, ex-combatants' demobilization and the 2010 elections, all of which will be addressed in the subsequent chapters.

In the second chapter, entitled "On the Instrumental Power of Refugees: Household Composition and Civil War in Burundi", I study changes in household composition following household's exposure to civil war in Burundi. The analyses rely on a panel dataset collected in rural Burundi in 2005 and 2010. To address concerns over the endogenous distribution violence, I use an instrumental variables strategy using the distance to refugee camps, in which the Hutu rebellion was organized from the mid-1990s onwards. The analysis focuses on the impact of violence on demographic changes within households.

The third chapter, entitled "Who Benefited from Burundi's Demobilization Program?" and co-authored with Olivier Sterck (University of Oxford) and Philip Verwimp (ULB), assesses the impact of the demobilization cash transfers program, which took place from 2004 onwards in post-war Burundi. In the short run, we find that the cash payments had a positive impact on beneficiaries' consumption, non-food spending and investments. Importantly, it also generated positive spillovers on civilians in their home villages. However, both the direct impact and the spillovers seem to vanish in the long run. Ex-combatants' investments in assets were not productive enough to sustain their consumption pattern in the long run, as they ultimately ran out of demobilization money.

In the fourth chapter, entitled "From Rebellion to Electoral Violence. Evidence from Burundi" and co-authored with Andrea Colombo (ULB) and Olivier Sterck (University of Oxford), we aim at understanding the triggers of electoral violence in 2010, only a few months after the end of the war. We find that an acute polarization between ex-rebel groups -capturing the presence of groups with equal support - and political competition are both highly conducive to electoral violence. Disaggregating electoral violence by type, we show that these drivers explain different types of violence. Perhaps surprisingly, we find that ethnic diversity is not associated with electoral violence in post-conflict Burundi.

In the last chapter, entitled "Who Benefits from Customary Justice? Rent-seeking, Bribery and Criminality in sub-Saharan Africa" and co-authored with Olivier Sterck (University of Oxford), we have a closer look at the judicial system of Uganda, an important institution in a post-conflict economy. In many African countries, customary and statutory judicial systems co-exist. Customary justice is exercised by local courts and based on restorative principles, while statutory justice is mostly retributive and administered by magistrates' courts. As their jurisdiction often overlaps, victims can choose which judicial system to refer to, which may lead to contradictions between rules and inconsistencies in judgments. In this essay, we construct a model representing a dual judicial system and we show that this overlap encourages rent-seeking and bribery, and yields to high rates of petty crimes and civil disputes.

In Burundi, history has shown that instability in one country of the Great Lake region may destabilize the whole area, with dramatic effect on civilian population. Understanding the dynamics laying at the origin of violence, during and after civil conflict, is crucial to prevent violence relapse in any form, from petty criminality to larger scale combats.

Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

A cursory look at the resort to power-sharing deals after last elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe, expose as problematic the view that elections in essence are part of a democratic role to resolve political rivalry through non violent means. This report takes a preliminary argument that the resort to power-sharing after disputed elections defeats the ends of electoral democracy and may create a precedent in Africa where incumbent leaders may refuse to vacate office after being defeated in the hope of sharing power with their adversaries; retaining the all powerful presidency. The report further investigates through a comparative analysis the factors that facilitated electoral violence and post election accommodation in both cases, exposing the loopholes of each deal and also introduces electoral violence as the newest approach to power-sharing. The report sums-up with a catalogue of recommendations that could be used to avert similar occurrences elsewhere

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Witwatersrand, South Africa Wits School of Governance, 2017
This research addresses three questions: how Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) following the post-election violence of 2007/2008 in Kenya are recreating their community resilience capacities; how the Kenyan government and non-state interventions are influencing the victims’ livelihood strategies towards their reconstruction and recovery process and how social support and social capital has accelerated their reconstruction and recovery process. It proposes a post-conflict reconstruction and recovery approach based on the research findings. The research adopted Qualitative research methodology and primary data were collected from the month of January, 2015 continuously and concurrently with data analysis. The key findings were that ownership of land is perceived and identified as a milestone in the process of post-conflict reconstruction and recovery, an avenue for community resilience. The main means of livelihood for IDPs are casual labour and other menial jobs. The Kenyan government has made an effort towards resettlement of IDPs although this is ad hoc and ineffective due to lack of experience and a specific framework for any major resettlement. NGOs abandoned the reconstruction and recovery projects as soon as the humanitarian crisis ended. But the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had reconstruction and recovery projects which ended in 2011. In displacement, IDPs lost their original support system, but developed new emergent norms to support each other. Integration of IDPs is a better option in the reconstruction and recovery process compared to the government farm resettlement approach. The key recommendations are that government should evaluate the economic loss of every integrated IDP and those resettled in government procured farms should be provided with legal ownership documents. There should be an urgent re-profiling of IDPs in camps and use of UN Guiding Principles on IDPs to re-integrate them into society. The findings of this research bring to light new knowledge on the theory of social capital: victims of displacement develop new emergent norms, values and culture to support each other, which eventually creates a new society/community. Key Words: Post-conflict reconstruction and recovery; integrated IDPs; government resettled IDPs; camp-based IDPs; social capital: social support; livelihood strategies.
E.R. 2019

Text in English
The phenomenon of the 2007/8 post-election violence in Kenya is complex and has numerous facets. This is because of the historical and socio-political dimensions connected with it, some of which the present study has attempted to discuss. The main objective of this research is to develop a missiological model of reconciliation by understanding and addressing the underlying causes of the 2007/8 post-election violence through an interpretive and missiological reading of the 2008 report of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. The concepts of politics, ethnicity, human rights and violence are chosen as analytical units for this study and through an integrated approach to their interconnectedness, a more adequate framework to identify and analyze the causes of violence is created. The churches in Kenya have played ambiguous roles in the social-political arena and this study surveys these roles and suggests different missional approaches through which the churches in Kenya can participate in the mission of reconciliation.
Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology
M.Th. (Missiology)