Technology Collective Action Africa

Report

An American Political Science Review paper by Jan H. Pierskalla and Florian M. Hollenbach investigating whether the spread of cell phone coverage has affected political violence in Africa. Using spatially disaggregated data on cell phone coverage and the location of organised violent events, the authors find that cell phone availability significantly and substantially increases the probability of violent conflict, arguing that mobile technology helps political groups overcome collective-action problems and improve coordination — a finding that holds across multiple model specifications, including instrumental variable and panel data approaches.