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This contribution aims at analysing the relationship between political parties and violence in Africa. Violence is not only used as a political instrument by ruthless political entrepreneurs, it can be an established mode of competition. And it depends on a variety of factors: the course and the outcome of the transition, the depth of social cleavages, the quality of the state monopoly of violence, the legitimacy and efficiency of the electoral process and the organisational capacities of the parties themselves. The association of opposition parties with violence is often manipulated by those in power, while repression in the name of the state’s monopoly of violence is frequently violence exerted by the party or clique in power. Most of the factors analysed in this contribution are not specific to Africa, but empirical evidence suggests that the frequency of use of violence on the continent might not be mere coincidence. Simplistic arguments highlighting just one of those factors do not reflect reality.

The contribution is subdivided into an introductory section on terminology and approaches, an introductory part on the political history of six countries under scrutiny, and subsequent sections on violence as a political instrument, on violence as a dominant mode of the political struggle and on violence–prone contexts. In the course of the argumentation, several research questions will be raised, which each deserve a profound evaluation by in-depth studies.