Political actors often resort to electoral violence to gain an edge over their competitors even though violence is harder to hide than fraud and more likely to delegitimize elections as a result. Existing explanations tend to analyze violence in terms of the same factors as fraud, or to treat violence as a means of last resorts given its overtness. Dawn Brancati argues that political actors often use violence for the very reason that it is hard to hide. 

Image courtesy of interviewee. June 12, 2024