Date of Award:

8-2025

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Political Science

Committee Chair(s)

Jia Li

Committee

Jia Li

Committee

Shannon Peterson

Committee

Debra Monson

Abstract

The research takes Pakistan as a case-study to explores how political violence shapes electoral behavior by focusing on two forms of violence: terrorist interventions by non-state actors and political repression by state institutions. Analyzing multiple elections and regional contexts, the study investigates how fear inflicting non-state violence can discourage voter participation, while state sponsored violence can drive communities by triggering anger, particularly those with strong ethnic identities leading to a higher voter turnout. Overall, this work highlights how different types of violence have varying effects on voter participation, and how these effects are conditioned.

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