Political Reforms, Electoral Competition, and Chief-led Ritual Violence in Colonial Lesotho
Speaker: Chiu Yu Ko (National University of Singapore)
Date: Sept. 17, Tuesday, 2019
Time: 1 - 2 pm
Venue: Room 1050, Pudong Campus
Abstract:
We show that the political reforms implemented under indirect British colonial rule - the ‘democratization of African chieftaincy’ - increased political competition and led to a rise in chief-led ritual violence. Based on micro-level time series data from colonial Lesotho from 1895 to 1966, we show that medicine murders (a form of chief-led ritual violence) increased in periods of political competition when hereditary chiefs were exposed to electoral competition for the first time, and in subsequent years of elections and formation of new political parties. Further, judicial records point towards group participation in the violence. Our results support an interpretation that the colonial reforms encouraged reform-opposing traditional elite to build social capital using ritual violence as a costly signal of support.
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