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AbstractThis article examines the subnational determinants of descriptive representation. Agency managers may be hesitant to hire women uniformly across all localities if they perceive geographic variation in role congruence, or the degree to which a position's duties match gender roles. We expect managerial perceptions to affect hiring patterns even after the adoption of a gender quota intended to improve descriptive representation, as managers will differentially hire women to meet the quota in localities where they perceive role congruence to be highest. Evidence from Kenya's most important security agency after the adoption of a gender quota supports the theory. Broadly, this article shows that aggregate quotas are at risk of being implemented in a way that undermines the spirit of the law. Slack in oversight pushes implementation to subnational areas where managers perceive the quota will be least disruptive, and ultimately, have the smallest effects on passive, let alone active, representation.

The government faces a principal–agent problem with lower-level state officers. Officers are often expected to use the state coercive capacity endowed to them to politically benefit the government. But officers can shirk from the government's demands. An officer's actions during bouts of large-scale and highly visible electoral violence reveal the officer's type, thereby providing the government with the information necessary to solve its principal–agent problem for the future. The government holds officers who used their authority to perpetuate incumbent-instigated violence accountable through positive rewards, while holding officers who used their authority to perpetuate opposition-instigated violence accountable through negative sanctions. We find evidence in support of the theory using micro-level archival data on 2,500 local officer appointments and fine-grained satellite data on the locations of violence in the aftermath of Kenya's 2007 election. The Kenyan government was more likely to fire officials whose jurisdictions saw opposition-instigated violence that targeted government supporters. But we find the opposite result where violence was instigated by incumbent supporters: there, officers were less likely to be fired if violence occurred in their jurisdiction. Our results indicate that leaders can manipulate accountability processes after political violence to further politicize the state.

Abstract
The Central Sahel region has one of the world's fastest-growing populations of internally displaced persons (IDPs). To better understand the risk factors associated with displacement, this study utilized respondent-driven sampling to recruit otherwise hard-to-reach IDPs in remote and urban areas in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. From August to October 2021, 4144 IDPs were surveyed, and nine targeted vulnerability profiles were measured across the domains of gender, health, and protection. The study revealed a high prevalence of risk factors and vulnerability among IDPs, with notable geographic differences. The majority of IDPs fell into at least one category of vulnerability, with health vulnerabilities being the most common. Internally displaced persons reported overlapping vulnerabilities in health, particularly chronic illness, mental health issues, and disability. Women had higher odds of vulnerability than men. Statistically significant associations were site-specific, and some were inconsistent across contexts, highlighting the cross-cutting and pervasive nature of vulnerability among IDPs.