The impacts of violence on the electoral and political behavior of civilians: Evidence from Colombia

Date
2023-04-18
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Abstract

This dissertation examines how different levels and types of exposures to conflict affect electoral behavior and political attitudes among civilians in Colombia's conflict and post-conflict scenarios. The first paper explores the measure-dependency in the contrasting results in the literature regarding citizens' responses to violence exposure. Using electoral and survey data, this chapter advances a two-dimensional framework of analysis that takes into consideration the type and level of an individual's exposure to violence to explain the adoption of functional and normative approaches to conflict resolution. The second paper explores the political costs associated to Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration programs; concretely, the changes in the electoral behavior of communities affected by the relocation of former fighters. Using a difference-in-difference design and electoral data, I look at how the installation of reincorporation centers for former Farc guerrilla members affected the support for parties in favor of the negotiation. The third paper takes a more disaggregated approach and tests the effectiveness of intergroup contact in reducing the levels of perceived social distance between civilians and ex-combatants. I explore this question with original face-to-face survey data collected in seven municipalities where former Farc rebels are taking part in reincorporation programs.

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Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Type
Thesis
Keywords
Civil war, DDR programs, electoral accountability, peace process, intergroup conflict, post-conflict studies
Citation

Lopez Alvarez, Santiago. "The impacts of violence on the electoral and political behavior of civilians: Evidence from Colombia." (2023) Diss., Rice University. https://hdl.handle.net/1911/115113.

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