Study title

This database includes data on electoral violence interventions undertaken by the United National Development Program between 2003 and 2015 inclusive. The units of analysis are elections held during this period; 101 of these elections benefited from UNDP electoral assistance. The UNDP electoral assistance reports, accessed from the UNDP’s public repository of program documents, covering the period from 2003. All reports in national-level elections during this period were coded (including reports in English, French, Spanish and Russian). Elections are a means of adjudicating political differences through peaceful, fair, democratic mechanisms. When elections are beset by violence, these aims are compromised and political crises often result. Despite the undisputed importance of understanding electoral violence, there has been only a limited body of systematic comparative research on this topic. If scholars and practitioners are to gain insight into the dynamics of electoral violence and develop superior strategies for deterring it, better data and more sophisticated theories are required. The aim of this project is to develop conceptual, methodological and practical tools to facilitate an enhanced understanding of electoral violence and the behavioural interventions best suited to preventing it, with a view to sustaining fair and vibrant societies. The project will involve the construction of two databases of electoral violence and will make these data available to those engaged in electoral assistance, electoral administration and electoral observation as well as academic and other researchers. The project will also use the resulting data to develop and test a series of theoretically-driven propositions about the causes of electoral violence and to assess a range of interventions designed to prevent violent behaviours. Finally, the project will generate an online electoral violence early warning tool that can be used to provide relevant information about current...