ABSTRACT
Election violence in Africa is ubiquitous. But we know little in terms of the interaction between elites and institutions like courts that are constitutionally mandated to resolve disputes, particularly between the winners and losers. Most of what we know about the behavior of politicians and judges is informed by the western or the Latin American experience. Yet, we do not know much about this behavior in unconsolidated states. This chapter develops a theoretical framework that sheds light on how variation in the independence of the court influences the strategic use of violence by both the incumbent and the challenger.
