International Influences on Elections in New Multiparty States

Abstract

Practitioners and politicians have long debated the wisdom of pushing countries to hold elections, with some arguing for its necessity and others warning of its futility and even danger. Yet, research on how varying types of international activities affect the conduct and structure of elections still has a long way to go to be able to inform this debate. This article discusses the myriad international forms of engagement with elections and reviews the research on their ability to improve election quality. It also explores the more nefarious international activities, which are even less well understood than the efforts to improve elections. Given the mixed outcomes and findings, much work remains to be done, especially in specifying the conditions under which various effects occur. Such work has both practical and theoretical merits and can shed light on broader scholarly inquiries about the international dimensions of democratization.

Information and Self-Enforcing Democracy: The Role of International Election Observation

“… 7. See, for example, Bunce and Wolchick 2011; Bush 2011; Donno 2008 and 2010; Finkel, Pérez-Liñan, and Seligson 2007; Gandhi and Lust-Okar 2009; Gleditsch and Ward 2006; Marinov and Goemans 2013; Gourevitch 1978; Hyde 2007, 2009, and 2011; Kelley 2012a and 2012b; Levitsky and Way 2005, 2006, and 2010; Lindberg 2009; Mansfield and Pevehouse 2006; and Pevehouse 2002 and 2005. …”

Understanding the foreign policy of autocratic actors: ideology or pragmatism? Russia and the Tymoshenko trial as a case study

“…In 2008, the Russian government established an Institute for Democracy and Cooperation to monitor human rights violations in Europe and in the USA, and since 2011, Russia has published reports on the global human rights situation, again focusing on the USA and Europe. The Russian-sponsored Mission of Election Observers of the Commonwealth of Independent States systematically endorses suspicious elections in post-Soviet autocratic countries (Kelley 2012).…”

United Nations electoral assistance: More than a fig leaf?

“…In a similar vein, case-oriented studies on democracy aid writ-large emphasize that local political conditions need to be conducive in order to achieve a substantial impact (Burnell and Oliver, 2010; Whitehead, 2004; Zeeuw and Kumar, 2006). Consequently, Kelley (2012a: 110) sees international actors in a ‘reinforcement role’ of on-going democratization processes. Similarly, Tolstrup (2014) emphasizes that local gatekeepers determine the extent to which international actors have the power to influence regime trajectories.…”

“…Borzyskowski (2016) analyses the allocation but not the effectiveness of technical election assistance. Kelley (2012a: 215) rightly points out that ‘[e]vidence is insufficient to settle the debate about the merits of international involvement in elections.’ It is highly relevant to address this research gap since electoral assistance is the backbone of international democracy promotion activities. Between August 2007 and December 2014, the UN assisted 37% of all elections worldwide and half of all elections outside of established democracies.…”