ABSTRACT

Because elections are crucial ingredients of modern democracy, good democrats will be dismayed to learn that elections are often associated with outbursts of violence. At the outset, we show that a paradox exists in this relationship between elections and violence, a paradox inherent in all modes of legitimate succession. We then compare two major historical modes, election and heredity, to see how the issues most specific to each (clarity for heredity, fairness and conciliation for elections) shape succession violence. Finally, we offer a brief typology of election violence, based on those issues.