Conceptualizing Election-Related Violence

Electoral violence has become an increasingly common manifestation of political violence around the globe. Reflecting the growing significance of this form of violence, there has been a sharp rise in research on the topic in political science and related disciplines. In this article, we analyze the various definitions and typologies of election violence put forward in the literature, highlighting points of agreement and disagreement. We examine how distinct definitions and categorization choices—for example, about perpetrator, motive, or timing—have implications for the types of factors that scholars highlight in explaining the causes and consequences of election violence. We argue that greater attention to these choices and their theoretical and empirical implications can lead to more productive and cumulative research on the topic.