The Effects of Violence on Political Trust in Mali. A Quantitative Analysis of How Levels of Insecurity and Violence, Affects Trust in Different Types of Security Actors.

Abstract: This thesis generates new theory on how violence affects the levels of political trust toward state and non-state security actors in Mali. The theory that is generated will further be tested through a quantitative regression analysis to be able to answer the overarching research question of: In contexts with high levels of insecurity and violence, under what conditions do populations put their trust in different types of security actors? Furthermore, two additional research questions are examined: How does regional variation, whether violence is taking place within a region or not affecting how populations put their trust in state or non-state security actors?, and How do different types of violent events affect whether populations put their trust in state or non-state security actors? The thesis can conclude that the levels of trust in state security actors are affected by the levels of violence in Mali, additionally, the thesis finds evidence that the levels of violence within a region and that regions location effects the will of a population to trust state security actors negatively. The thesis does not find sufficient results to conclude that violence affects the levels of trust in non-state security actors. The thesis also concludes that more research is needed to fully understand the effects of different types of violence on political trust.