Buying Them Off or Scaring Them Straight: Explaining Warlord Democrats' Electoral Rhetoric

• Published in: Security studies Vol. 29; no. 1; pp. 1 - 33
• Main Authors: Themnér, Anders, Sjöstedt, Roxanna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Routledge 01-01-2020; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Annan samhällsvetenskap; Civil war; Competition; democratization; Discourses; Elections; Fear & phobias; Freds- och konfliktforskning; Legislatures; Legitimacy; Liberia; Other Social Sciences; Patronage; Peace; Peace and Conflict Research; peacebuilding; Politicians; Rhetoric; Samhällsvetenskap; Social networks; Social Sciences; Social Sciences Interdisciplinary; Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap; Voters; warlords
• ISSN: 0963-6412; 1556-1852; 1556-1852
• DOI: 10.1080/09636412.2020.1693617

Post-civil war democracies are characterized by intense electoral competition. To ensure continued political relevance, ex-military-turned-politicians, or "warlord democrats" (WDs), can either engage in a rhetoric of fear or ease societal tensions by employing a rhetoric of peace. WDs' choice of rhetoric can have a profound impact on durable peace by altering societal discourses concerning the legitimacy of using violence. A key question is therefore: Why do some WDs employ a rhetoric of fear, and others a rhetoric of peace, when running for office? We argue that the choice of rhetoric is a function of the patrimonial endowments WDs possess; if WDs lack the resources and social networks needed to distribute patronage, they may instead use a rhetoric of fear to rally voters. To highlight the explanatory value of this proposition, we compare two Liberian WDs who ran for the Senate in 2005-Adolphus Dolo and Prince Johnson.