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A field experiment in rural Liberia is used to study democratic participation in fragile states. Fragile states are marked by political fragmentation, local patronage systems, and voter vulnerability. To understand the effects of such conditions on democratic expression through elections, the experiment introduced new forms of interaction between rural citizens and third-party actors: (i) civic education and town hall workshops directed by non-governmental organizations in communities over nine months and (ii) security committees that brought rural community representatives into monthly exchange with United Nations peacekeepers. Civic education workshops increased enthusiasm for electoral participation, produced a coordinated shift from parochial to national candidates, and increased willingness to report on manipulation. A program combining the two interactions had similar effects. The security committees had negligible effects. Barriers to political information and voter coordination appear to be important but resolvable problems for elections in fragile states.

Access to information --- Accounting --- Allegiance --- Anarchy --- Attrition --- Ballot box --- Banking --- Candidates --- Channels of communication --- Citizen access --- Civic education --- Civics --- Civil society --- Collective action --- Committees --- Community members --- Constituencies --- Constituent --- Constituents --- Crises --- Democracies --- Democracy --- Development economics --- Dictatorial regimes --- E-Government --- Economic conditions --- Economics --- Educational attainment --- Effects --- Election --- Election outcome --- Elections --- Electoral choices --- Electoral information --- Electoral participation --- Electoral systems --- Factions --- Forms of participation --- Free press --- Freedom --- Freedoms --- Governance --- Government --- Governments --- Incentives --- Income --- Information --- Innovations --- International peace --- Labor policies --- Law --- Liberty --- Literacy rates --- Loyalty --- Mobile phone --- Monitoring --- Monopolies --- Motivation --- Nation --- National elections --- Ordinary citizens --- Organizations --- Outcomes --- Parliamentary government --- Participants --- Participation --- Participation variables --- Party members --- Patronage --- Peace --- Pluralism --- Policies --- Policy issues --- Political authority --- Political behavior --- Political change --- Political culture --- Political democracy --- Political discussion --- Political economy --- Political information --- Political landscape --- Political leaders --- Political participation --- Political pluralism --- Political rights --- Political science --- Politicians --- Politics --- Politics and government --- Queen --- Representatives --- Rights --- Security --- Social protections and labor --- Terrorism --- Theory --- Training --- United Nations --- Value --- Vote choice --- Voter participation --- Voter turnout --- Voting --- Voting rights