Political Parties and Violence in Karachi, Pakistan

Bibliographic Data

ID6246748
AuthorsNiloufer Siddiqui (0000-0002-1816-5378, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume56
Issue5
Pages726-756
Publication date2023-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueComparative Political Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0010-4140 • E-ISSN: 1552-3829
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00104140221115174
OpenAlexW4286498735
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited46

Political parties in many ethnically polarized contexts around the world engage in electoral violence. Why do some parties engage in violence directly while others do so through intermediaries? Existing literature has produced contradictory results about when democracy turns violent and paid insufficient attention to the form that party violence takes. Using qualitative and survey data of both party elites and voters, this paper focuses on two parties in the violent megacity of Karachi, Pakistan: the Muttahida Qaumi Movement—whose cadres directly orchestrated violence—and the Pakistan People’s Party—which outsourced violence to distinct specialists. It argues that where state capacity is contested by multiple competing sovereigns, the economic and coercive benefits to be gained from violence are high. However, even where parties share similar incentives for violence within a particular electoral arena, whether a party engages in violence directly or not depends on its organizational structure and strength

Criminology · Democracy · Economics · Incentive · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Political violence · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Politics and Society in Latin America

Tools

Open DOI