April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2
How Strategic Violence Distorts African Elections
Violence need not be lethal to pose a threat to democracy. Indeed, low-scale violence has proven to be a far more effective means of manipulating elections.
April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2
Violence need not be lethal to pose a threat to democracy. Indeed, low-scale violence has proven to be a far more effective means of manipulating elections.
April 2021, Volume 32, Issue 2
The covid-19 pandemic nearly upended the U.S. election, but after a rocky primary season changes were made to save it. Alarmingly, however, a large portion of voters have rejected the result. The challenge of overcoming lies about a “rigged” election is great.
July 2020, Volume 31, Issue 3
Evo Morales lost the presidency in November 2019 due not to a coup, but to a citizen revolt. After his controversial bid for a fourth consecutive term, the opposition mobilized against him and his regime disintegrated.
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
The norm of ballot secrecy, although widely accepted in principle, is often downplayed and loosely defined in practice. As policy makers weigh new electoral options such as postal and internet voting, a better understanding is needed of secrecy’s many aspects and requirements.
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
Election officials made strides toward secure voter identification, and a two-party system appears to be emerging, but the 2019 elections revealed continuing problems with vote-buying and violence.
January 2019, Volume 30, Issue 1
A review of How to Rig an Election by Nic Cheeseman and Brian Klaas.
April 2017, Volume 28, Issue 2
In 2016, concerns about the administration of elections in the United States generated highly charged partisan debates. Are the worries justified?
July 2015, Volume 26, Issue 3
Nonpartisan election monitoring has helped to foster democratization over the last thirty years, but now dictators are trying to sabotage it, often by spreading lies and confusion.
October 2013, Volume 24, Issue 4
Determining whether an election has met international standards is a pressing issue for both practitioners and scholars. An important new study aims to systematize the assessment of electoral integrity.
July 2010, Volume 21, Issue 3
The 2009 vote for the presidency and local councils was marred by fraud, provoking a political crisis and casting a deep shadow over upcoming parliamentary elections. The Afghan experience calls into question whether voting should occur before other essential reforms are in place.
July 2006, Volume 17, Issue 3
Authoritarian regimes around the world hold elections and manipulate them every step of the way. How do we understand and work around the challenges these regimes pose to what should be a clean and democratic electoral process?
April 2006, Volume 17, Issue 2
The 2005 elections were marked by massive fraud, but the democratic world mostly looked the other way. Azerbaijani society remains receptive to democracy, but the regime clearly has other plans—and will soon have massive oil wealth to fund them.
July 2003, Volume 14, Issue 3
This troubled corner of Europe has become a test of the ability of outside experts and carefully designed institutions to overcome a legacy of intense ethnocommunal conflict. How are they faring?
April 2002, Volume 13, Issue 2
Political scientists have long theorized that the use of “preferential” election systems can help promote successful conflict management in divided societies. As it turns out, evidence from five real-world cases supports this conclusion.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
In Peru in 2000, the OAS made an unprecedented diplomatic intervention in a member state. Could this be a model for the future?
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
The Editors’ introduction to “Revisiting Florida 2000.”
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
Read the full essay here.
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
Read the full essay here.
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
Read the full essay here.
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
Read the full essay here.
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
Read the full essay here.
January 2001, Volume 12, Issue 1
Malapportionment poses a serious, yet hitherto neglected, challenge to the quality and fairness of democracy in many Latin American countries.
July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
The early 1990s saw a wave of competitive multiparty elections in Africa. These contests can be described as "founding" elections in the sense that they marked for various countries a transition from an extended period of authoritarian rule to fledgling democratic government. By the middle of the 1990s, this wave had crested. Although founding elections…
January 1998, Volume 9, Issue 1
Read the full essay here.
July 1997, Volume 8, Issue 3
Read the full essay here.
July 1997, Volume 8, Issue 3
Read the full essay here.
July 1993, Volume 4, Issue 3
Read the full essay here.
Summer 1990, Volume 1, Issue 3
Read the full essay here.
Summer 1990, Volume 1, Issue 3
Read the full essay here.
The strongman lost in a landslide, and the Venezuelan people are paying the price.
Georgia’s opposition is facing a pivotal election. But it isn’t enough to win: They need to be prepared to move quickly, mobilize the public, and force the regime to concede.
Kais Saied is claiming a landslide election win. The truth is he was never willing to face a real competition. Just how insecure he feels will likely determine how much more repressive he will become.
She was just elected Mexico’s first woman president in a landslide. The future of Mexico’s democracy rests on whether she can break from her predecessor’s ways and carve her own democratic path.
“Electoral bonds” were supposed to make political contributions transparent. Instead they became a form of legalized corruption, funneling huge sums and making the political playing field even more uneven.
Aleksandar Vučić is tearing down what remains of Serbian democracy while the West remains silent. Serbia has become a test case for democratic resolve, and the region’s would-be strongmen are taking notice.
Russia’s dictator lives in fear. He knows the Russian people don’t support him. He can’t even muster a street rally without bribes or threats. No number of fake elections will change that.
The Kremlin’s political theater shouldn’t be mistaken for an election or symbol of stability. It’s a sign of Putin’s weakness and the country’s descent into a deeper tyranny.
The economy is spiraling, public frustration is mounting, and the regime is becoming more repressive. The next time Egyptians come to the streets, they will be looking for more than promises and free elections.
Across the globe, the people who run our elections are being undermined, targeted, and attacked. Here is how to shore them up—and protect democratic institutions, too.