Perceptions of Justice and Violent Mobilization: Explaining Petroleum Related Riots in Southern Tanzania

Tanzania has remained remarkably peaceful despite being characterized as a high conflict risk country. Recent natural gas discoveries led to waves of protests and riots and loss of civilian lives in a region never before marked by any political unrest. The mobilization was fuelled by local perceptions of injustice and unfair treatment, which in turn was linked to years of neglect, a strong local identity, and broken expectations about the benefits arising from resource extraction. The case is relevant to other emerging petroleum producing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.