Chapter 10 important to indicate that there may be various'push' and'pull' factors(OECD, 2011:18) that may account for this worrying situation, and these may include psychological, socio-economic and political reasons. The next section looks at the relationship between a youth bulge in population and the incidence of political and electoral violence. The Youth Bulge Theory and Political and Electoral Violence Studies on political violence and internal instabilities have established linkages between a surging youth population and political violence. Hilker and Fraser(2009:3) acknowledge that the discourse on children and younger persons as victims of violence has shifted to one in which the youth are seen as a threat to security and stability. In particular, young males have been observed as key protagonists of criminal and political violence (Urdal, 2012: 1). It has been pointed out that recent studies on conflicts in Africa recognize some form of youth dimension in the instigation and perpetuation of violence(Hilker and Fraser, 2009:3). The'youth bulge' theory employs demographic dynamics to explain the incidence of violent conflicts within states. The theory is linked to the German social scientist Gunnar Heinsohn who wrote about the theory in the mid-1990s. Subsequently, other scholars such as US political scientists Gary Fuller and Jack A. Goldstone have contributed to popularizing the theory. 310