Blattman 2009, ‘From Violence to Voting: War and Political Participation in Uganda’

Questions

What are the competing theories about the relationship between violent activity and later political participation that Blattman is trying to resolve?

What is it about the Ugandan conflict in particular that allows Blattman to draw inferences about the causal relationship between violence and voting?

How did LRA raiders decide whom to abduct? Why is this important for Blattman’s analysis?

In Table 2, Blattman reports differences in early-life characteristics between abducted and non-abducted youth, as well as between militia members and non-members. What is the point of this analysis?

What is the key independent variable in Blattman’s causal analysis? What are the key dependent variables, and what concepts are they supposed to measure? Looking at Table 3, what are the main conclusions of the analysis?

After identifying a causal relationship between violence and political participation, Blattman tries to identify why this relationship holds. What does he conclude about the causal mechanism that drives the effect?

What alternative explanations for the effect does Blattman consider? Why does he ultimately find them less compelling?