Does violence against civilians depress voter turnout? Evidence from Bosnia and Herzegovina

Caterina Alacevich and Dijana Zejcirovic

Journal of Comparative Economics, 2020, vol. 48, issue 4, 841-865

Abstract: We investigate the effect of violence against civilians on voting. Using data from elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1990 and 2014 and exploiting variation in war intensity across municipalities, we estimate a negative impact on voter turnout. The effect is stable and persistent over twenty years after the war resolution. Our results are robust to the inclusion of pre- and post-war socioeconomic and political characteristics, to instrumental variable estimations based on terrain ruggedness, and to restricting the sample to voters who were too young to be selectively targeted. Distinguishing between civilian and military victims, we show that violence against civilians drives the negative effect. Next, we examine different mediating mechanisms including forced migration and demographic selection, ethnic composition, physical capital damage, post-conflict reconstruction, and labor market conditions. Our results support the hypothesis that violence affects voting through a “moral” dis-utility from showing allegiance to politics and the society by casting a vote. Using survey data, we show that respondents in more affected municipalities report lower generalized trust, trust in institutions, and voting.

Keywords: Civil conflict; Political participation; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Voter turnout; Trust; Ethnic conflict (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C31 C36 D72 D74 N44 P30 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:48:y:2020:i:4:p:841-865

DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2020.04.006

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