Violent Victors - (Princeton Studies in International History and Politics) by Sarah Zukerman Daly

About the Book

"Drawing on more than two years of groundbreaking fieldwork, Sarah Daly combines case studies of victim voters in Latin America with experimental survey evidence and new data on postwar elections around the world. She argues that, contrary to oft-cited fears, postconflict elections do not necessarily give rise to renewed instability or political violence. Daly demonstrates how war-scarred citizens reward belligerent parties for promising peace and security instead of blaming them for war. Yet, in so casting their ballots, voters sacrifice justice, liberal democracy, and social welfare"--

Book Synopsis

Why populations brutalized in war elect their tormentors

One of the great puzzles of electoral politics is how parties that commit mass atrocities in war often win the support of victimized populations to establish the postwar political order. Violent Victors traces how parties derived from violent, wartime belligerents successfully campaign as the best providers of future societal peace, attracting votes not just from their core supporters but oftentimes also from the very people they targeted in war.

Drawing on more than two years of groundbreaking fieldwork, Sarah Daly combines case studies of victim voters in Latin America with experimental survey evidence and new data on postwar elections around the world. She argues that, contrary to oft-cited fears, postconflict elections do not necessarily give rise to renewed instability or political violence. Daly demonstrates how war-scarred citizens reward belligerent parties for promising peace and security instead of blaming them for war. Yet, in so casting their ballots, voters sacrifice justice, liberal democracy, and social welfare.

Proposing actionable interventions that can help to moderate these trade-offs, Violent Victors links war outcomes with democratic outcomes to shed essential new light on political life after war and offers global perspectives on important questions about electoral behavior in the wake of mass violence.

Review Quotes

"Winner of the Luebbert Best Book Award, Comparative Politics Section of the American Political Science Association"

"[O]utstanding. . . . Daly's book has a number of methodological innovations that make it stand out, including carefully crafted cross-national evidence and strong case studies of civil war in three Central American countries: El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. One of the book's biggest contributions . . . is in blending work on civil war with a consideration of the political strategies of parties and a behavioral analysis of voters."---Yeilim Cheong and Stephan Haggard, Political Science Quarterly

"[A] penetrating study of founding elections in postwar societies. . . . [Violent Victors] is required reading for anyone interested in peacebuilding, justice, democracy, and governance after civil war."---Manuel Meléndez-Sánchez, Peace & Change

"A must-read."---Mauricio Rivera, Journal of Peace Research

"Articulates a fascinating and novel puzzle. . . . [and provides] a thorough consideration of alternative explanations."---Michael K. Miller, Perspectives on Politics

"Violent Victors is a rich, rigorous and comprehensive book that delves into the complex and nuanced relationship between wartime violence and postwar electoral politics, transitional justice and governance."---Laia Balcells, International Affairs

"Winner of the Leon Epstein Outstanding Book Award, Political Organizations and Parties section of the American Political Science Association"

About the Author

Sarah Zukerman Daly is associate professor of political science at Columbia University. She is the author of Organized Violence after Civil War: The Geography of Recruitment in Latin America.