Local conflict and the local state. Public service delivery and political violence.

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Alexander De Juan
• Subject Area: Political Science
• Term: from 2014 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 262548586

Why do people rise up against the state? Peace and conflict studies focus on violence that is directed against state actors and institutions: riots, armed conflicts or civil wars. In analyzing the causes of violence, previous research has investigated the role of grievances, but without adequately addressing why people direct their anger against the state. Anti-state violence cannot be explained adequately by solely focusing on what people are fighting for; one also has to consider whom they are fighting against. Nonetheless, the role of the state as the object of violence has received comparably little attention in previous research on political violence. The project aims to address this gap. It is particularly interested in the motives and actions of the broader population: What makes people engage in violence against the state? In answering the question, it focuses on a central element of state capacity that has thus far not been captured adequately: the public delivery of basic services. The provision of water, electricity, health care and education is an essential welfare function of the state. Furthermore, it can be considered an interface between the state and the population: through the provision of services the state becomes tangible. Thus, the capacity or incapacity of the state to deliver these services in an effective and equitable way, will likely shape public perceptions of the state and influence their behavior towards it. The project will make use of a mix of geospatial quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the role of different facets of public service delivery for political violence. It draws on household survey data, which allows for the measurement of actual service delivery at the local level. Quantitative analyses of geographical covariance in service delivery and violent events across subnational administrative units will be performed for South Africa and Nepal. These analyses will be complemented by qualitative analyses and in-depth process tracing. Fieldwork will aim to provide more nuanced analyses of the causal mechanisms that link service delivery to engagement in anti-state violence.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants