Abstract
We investigate the role of state capacity and political violence in favoring regime changes. Specifically, we examine the role of road networks in the spread of Fascist violence in early 1920s Italy. Using novel and comprehensive data on Fascist violence, along with digitized maps of the Italian road network, we investigate the impact of road accessibility on the location and intensity of political violence, addressing endogeneity issues by means of an instrumental variable approach based on the least-cost paths virtual network among major municipalities as an instrument for the actual historical road network. We find that road accessibility played an important role in the spread of early Fascist violence. Our conclusions suggest that incumbents might have a strategic incentive to limit the development of state capacity in order to maintain political power.