Playing with Fire: Parties and Political Violence in Kenya and India (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781009444231)

Drawing on a rare cross-regional comparison of Kenya and India, Playing with Fire develops a novel explanation about ethnic party violence. Combining rich historical, qualitative, and quantitative data, the book demonstrates how levels of party instability can crucially inform the decisions of political elites to organize or support violence. Centrally, it shows that settings marked by unstable parties are more vulnerable to experiencing recurring and major episodes of party violence than those populated by durable parties. This is because transient parties enable politicians to disregard voters' future negative reactions to conflict. By contrast, stable party organizations compel politicians to take such costs into account, thereby dampening the potential for recurring and severe party violence. By centering political parties as key actors in the production of conflict, and bringing together evidence from both Africa and South Asia, Playing with Fire contributes new insights to the study of political violence.

Author: Aditi Malik
ISBN-10: 1009444239
ISBN-13: 9781009444231
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 06/27/2024
Pages: 300
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.29lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.75d