The HSRC cordially invites you to join our seminar on preventing, managing and resolving electoral conflicts in Africa.
Democracy is imperiled in Africa today. This explains in part why contemporary democracy discourse on the continent is by dominated themes like the erosion of democracy (democratic backsliding), the concomitant rise of autocracy (authoritarian upsurge), and the consolidation/expansion of anocracy (grey zone regimes). Part of the story of democratic erosion is attributable to the pervasive trend of violent electoral conflicts on the continent. Elections have a symbiotic relationship with conflict globally and in Africa in particular. While an election is a process of choosing leaders to manage national affairs (local, parliamentary and presidential), a conflict denotes a contestation over access to, control over, retention, and use of state power by the political elite.
Conflict is the incompatibility of goals whereby the pursuit of the interests of party A are perceived to lead to the loss of interests of party B. In elections, the political elites vying for political hegemony through the state find themselves caught up in this incompatibility conundrum. During elections, political party/parties in power perceive contestation by opposition party/parties as a threat to their interests deriving from control of the state. This tension generates a conflict, turning elections into war by other means. However, conflict, per se, is not a problem, provided it is managed constructively and peacefully through positive-sum (win-win) strategies. Conversely, there is a lot wrong with electoral conflicts the moment they turn violent and contestants/belligerents aim to resolve their incompatibilities by violent means, through zero-sum (winner-take-all) strategies. Using a qualitative methodology and adopting the political economy approach, this seminar aims to build upon existing literature to explore pathways to preventing electoral violence and building institutional mechanisms to anchor sustainable peace in Africa.
Event details
Date: Thursday, 27 March 2025
Time: 10:00 – 12:00
Join online here
Contact: Check Achu at cachu@hsrc.ac.za