Geographical Isolation as a Driver of Political Violence in African Cities

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Prieto-Curiel, Rafael, Menezes, Ronaldo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Prieto-Curiel, Rafael
Menezes, Ronaldo
author_facet Prieto-Curiel, Rafael
Menezes, Ronaldo
contents Violence is commonly linked with large urban areas, and as a social phenomenon, it is presumed to scale super-linearly with population size. This study explores the hypothesis that smaller, isolated cities in Africa may experience a heightened intensity of violence against civilians. It aims to investigate the correlation between the risk of experiencing violence with a city's size and its geographical isolation. Over a 20-year period, the incidence of civilian casualties has been analysed to assess lethality in relation to varying degrees of isolation and city sizes. African cities are categorised by isolation (number of highway connections) and centrality (the estimated frequency of journeys). Findings suggest that violence against civilians exhibits a sub-linear pattern, with larger cities witnessing fewer casualties per 100,000 inhabitants. Remarkably, individuals in isolated cities face a quadrupled risk of a casualty compared to those in more connected cities.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_03755
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Geographical Isolation as a Driver of Political Violence in African Cities
Prieto-Curiel, Rafael
Menezes, Ronaldo
Physics and Society
Violence is commonly linked with large urban areas, and as a social phenomenon, it is presumed to scale super-linearly with population size. This study explores the hypothesis that smaller, isolated cities in Africa may experience a heightened intensity of violence against civilians. It aims to investigate the correlation between the risk of experiencing violence with a city's size and its geographical isolation. Over a 20-year period, the incidence of civilian casualties has been analysed to assess lethality in relation to varying degrees of isolation and city sizes. African cities are categorised by isolation (number of highway connections) and centrality (the estimated frequency of journeys). Findings suggest that violence against civilians exhibits a sub-linear pattern, with larger cities witnessing fewer casualties per 100,000 inhabitants. Remarkably, individuals in isolated cities face a quadrupled risk of a casualty compared to those in more connected cities.
title Geographical Isolation as a Driver of Political Violence in African Cities
topic Physics and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.03755