Democratic Electoral Reform?

Redesigning Elections in Comparative Perspective

Online workshop, 19-21st March 2025

Organised by the Electoral Integrity Project and Westminster Foundation for Democracy

Convenor: Toby S. James (t.s.james@uea.ac.uk)

Election quality varies enormously around the world.  Given concerns about global democratic backsliding, the issue of how to improve and protect election quality is a pressing policy problem.  Passing reforms to improve the quality of elections, however, has often proved difficult to achieve.  Incumbent governments may be reluctant to reform the rules which brought them to power.  Should they have a majority in the legislature, they may seek to pass reforms which make it easier for them to win in the future, potentially further causing election quality to decline.  Electoral reform may also struggle to appear on the policy agenda ahead of issues such as the economy, law and order or education.  Governments may also be unfairly criticised for ‘rigging’ the electoral process by sceptical publics – when their proposals might be beneficial for electoral integrity.

Academic research has tended to focus on electoral system reform.  However, the electoral cycle approach to elections emphasises that elections involves many sets of laws, institutions and practices beyond electoral systems.

Open Call for papers

This conference is a collaboration between the Electoral Integrity Project and The Westminster Foundation for Democracy.  Paper proposals are welcome on the following themes and questions:

  • What principles should underpin the electoral reform process?

  • What are the barriers to ensuring that the electoral reform process is democratic, inclusive, transparent and consensus oriented?

  • How can public trust be maintained?

  • What interventions can be adopted to help to ensure ‘good’ electoral reform?

  • Case studies of electoral reforms where the electoral process was strengthened / undermined.

Papers are welcome from any related discipline and methodology.  This may include, but is not limited to:

  • Academic paper proposals: legal analysis, cross-national studies, country case studies.

  • Practitioner presentations: reflections from practitioners on their experiences of undertaking electoral reforms. 

Deadlines and process

Deadline for paper proposals (300-600 word abstract): 15 September 2024

Decision on papers will be communicated to authors by: 22 September 2024

Deadline for full papers to be uploaded to the website ahead of the conference: 10 March 2025

Closed Paper Stream

In addition to the open call, invited experts will have been invited to contribute country case study chapters to an edited volume on electoral reform.

Paper deadline: 10 March 2025