2015 Pre-APSA Workshop:
“Strengthening Electoral Integrity: What Works?”
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
San Francisco, CA, USA
Details
Date: September 2, 2015
Location: Grand Hyatt Union Square, 345 Stockton Street, San Francisco, California
Organizers: Pippa Norris and Alessandro Nai
Organizer: Electoral Integrity Project, International IDEA and the Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior (EPOVB) organized section
Conference Theme
The international community has invested growing resources in strengthening democratic governance, which has come to be understood as a vital component of human development.[1] This includes work by multilateral organizations including the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Bretton Woods institutions, all of which have become increasingly active during the post-Cold war era in expanding electoral institutional capacity.[2] During this period, many bilateral donors in advanced industrialized countries have also channeled increasing resources into the promotion of democracy, ‘good governance’, and human rights, for intrinsic reasons and on the instrumental grounds that an effective state is an essential partner for delivering development and reducing poverty.[3] AidData provides the most comprehensive and detailed estimates of international development budgets from a wide range of donor nations and multilateral organizations. This demonstrates that aid spending on both election programs and democratic participation expanded dramatically from 2000-1010 (in constant US$). [4]
A major part of this work has been growing attempts by the international community and domestic stakeholders to strengthen electoral integrity as a critical component at the heart of democratic governance. Legislative elections have now spread globally to all but a handful of countries worldwide. Yet their quality remains problematic, with multiple flaws and failures evident throughout the electoral cycle.[5] This matters for many reasons, not least by undermining faith in the legitimacy of elected authorities (including political parties, parliaments, and governments), eroding public satisfaction with democracy, and weakening electoral turnout.[6] Contentious elections may catalyze peaceful demonstrations and violent protests which can destabilize governments, especially in hybrid regimes. [7] Citizens, groups and parties have mobilized when seeking to protect electoral rights and to hold their government to account for their international obligations.
What are the most effective types of strategic interventions which address common problems and improve the quality of elections? What is the role of the international community in this process? Panels will consider the following types of initiatives: Monitoring international standards: The role of international and regional inter-governmental bodies strengthening and expanding electoral rights in global conventions, treaties, and guidelines, developing evaluation metrics to monitor compliance with international law, and working with citizens, groups and parties to implement international obligations in domestic laws. Strengthening electoral administration: Building the capacity of electoral management bodies to run contests impartially, efficiently and fairly.Improving transparency: Deploying international and domestic electoral observers to monitor the quality of elections, deter malpractices, and identify potential reforms.Legal reforms: (Two panels) Improving constitutions and legal frameworks governing elections, including reforms designed to achieve impartial redistricting, accurate electoral registers, well-designed ballots, equitable access to campaign finance and media, secure polling, transparent counts, just dispute resolution mechanisms, and inclusive parliaments.International actors: Investing development aid and technical assistance, and working with local partners, to strengthen electionsCampaign money and media: Regulations providing a level playing field and equitable distribution of campaign resources.
It is important to evaluate the pros and cons of these common types of programs and policies as they raise a series of questions to which there are no easy answers. Do attempts to develop and monitor international standards and electoral rights provide the basis for reliable metrics and benchmarks? Many programs are designed to support professional, impartial and autonomous Election Management Bodies. But is there solid evidence that work seeking to build the capacity of electoral management bodies has produced dividends by raising performance standards, such as through training workshops for senior electoral officials, regional managers, and local poll workers? Can transparency from the deployment of electoral observers and media watchdog agencies work in the absence of accountability and political will to reform – and are international observer reports still effective given the recent proliferation of rival organizations? Legal reforms seek to address many aspects of electoral procedure -- such as ballot designs, redistricting and registration processes, and the regulation of campaign media and money -- but have structural changes proved effective in practice and thereby fulfilled the claims of proponents? Finally can elections be improved by the international community in the absence of buy-in from local partners and stakeholders?
This workshop features almost three-dozen research papers addressing these issues, using a variety of methodological techniques and sources of evidence. Diverse cases are considered from Ireland and Britain to Tunisia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Ghana, Malawi and Brazil, in the attempt to determine ‘what works’ when seeking to strengthen electoral integrity.
For a longer overview discussing these issues, see 1_0 Pippa Norris What Works?
References
[1] Ted Piccone and Richard Youngs. Eds. 2006. Strategies for Democratic Change: Assessing the Global Response. Washington DC: Democracy Coalition Project.
[2] Edward Neuman and Roland Rich. Eds. 2004. The UN Role in Promoting Democracy: Between Ideals and Reality. UN University Press; Richard D. Caplan. 2005. International governance of war-torn territories: rule and reconstruction. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press; Thomas G. Weiss, David P. Forsythe, and Roger A. Coate. 2004. United Nations and Changing World Politics. Boulder, CO: Westview Press; Craig N. Murphy. 2006. The United Nations Development Programme: A Better Way? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[3] Thomas Carothers. 1999. Aiding Democracy Abroad. Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; James Manor. 2007. Aid that Works: Successful Development in Fragile States. Washington DC: The World Bank; Nicolas Guilhot. 2005. The Democracy Makers: Human Rights and International Order. New York: Colombia University Press; Karen Elizabeth Smith. 2003. European Union Foreign Policy in a Changing World. Oxford: Polity Press; Steven E. Finkel, Anibal Perez-Linan, and Mitchell A. Seligson. 2007. ‘The Effects of U.S. Foreign Assistance on Democracy Building, 1990-2003.’ World Politics 59: 404-439; Daniel Calingaert, Arch Puddington, and Sarah Repucci. 2014. ‘The democracy support deficit: Despite progress, major countries fall short.’ In Supporting Democracy Abroad: An Assessment of Leading Powers. Washington DC: Freedom House.
[4] See Michael J. Tierney et al. 2011. ‘More dollars than sense: Refining our knowledge of development finance using AidData.’ World Development 39 (11): 1891-1906.
[5] For evidence, see the Pippa Norris, Ferran Martinez i Coma, and Richard W. Frank. 2013. ‘Assessing the quality of elections.’ Journal of Democracy. 24(4): 124-135; Pippa Norris, Richard W. Frank and Ferran Martinez I Coma. 2014. ‘Measuring electoral integrity: A new dataset.’ PS Politics and Political Science 47(4): 789-798.
[6] Pippa Norris. 2014. Why Electoral Integrity Matters. NY: Cambridge University Press; Pippa Norris. 2015. Why Elections Fail. NY: Cambridge University Press.
[7] Pippa Norris, Richard Frank and Ferran Martinez i Coma. 2015. Eds. Contentious Elections: From Ballots to barricades. NY: Routledge
Panels
08:30-09.00 Buffet breakfast and registration
09:00-09:15 Welcome
Theatre level, Fillmore AB
Pippa Norris (Harvard University / University of Sydney, pippa_norris@harvard.edu)
Annette Fath-Lihic (International IDEA, a.fath-lihic@idea.int)
9:15-10:30 Panel 1 – Plenary session: Monitoring international standards
Theatre level, Fillmore AB
Chair: Alessandro Nai (University of Sydney, Alessandro.Nai@sydney.edu.au)
Papers:
1_0 What works? Evaluating electoral assistance
Pippa Norris (Harvard University and the University of Sydney, pippa.norris@harvard.edu)
1-1. Applying international standards to audit processes of electoral integrity
Erica Shein (International Foundation for Electoral Systems, eshein@ifes.org)
Chad Vickery (International Foundation for Electoral Systems, cvickery@ifes.org)
David Carroll (The Carter Center, djcarro@emory.edu)
Obehi Okojie (Georgetown University)
1-3. Refining the concept of electoral integrity
Seema Shah (International Idea, s.shah@idea.int)
1-4. The “very good” election: towards a research design for election observation in the data rich age
Connie Moon Sehat (The Carter Center, cmsehat@emory.edu)
Discussant: Susan Hyde (Yale University, susan.hyde@yale.edu)
10:30-10:45 Refreshment break – served in the Fillmore Foyer
10:45-12:15 Panel 2: Strengthening electoral administration
Theatre level, Orpheum room
Chair: Bruce Cain (Stanford University, bcain@stanford.edu.au)
Papers:
2-1. Comparing election management bodies: information,communication and transparency
Holly Ann Garnett (McGill University, holly.garnett@mail.mcgill.ca)
2-2. Poll workers and electoral integrity in Britain
Alistair Clark (Newcastle University, alistair.clark@ncl.ac.uk)
Toby James (University of East Anglia, t.s.james@uea.ac.uk)
2-3. Individual registration in Great Britain:long-overdue reform or conservative plot?
Chris Game (University Of Birmingham, c.h.game@bham.ac.uk)
2-4. Biometric voter registration in Côted’Ivoire and Ghana
Giulia Piccolino (German Institute Of Global And Area Studies, giulio.piccolino@giga-hamburg.de)
2-5. The effects ofautomated redistricting of representation
Alejandro Trelles (University of Pittsburgh, trelles33@gmail.com)
Micah Altman (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, escience@mit.edu)
Eric Magar (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, emagar@itam.mx)
Michael McDonald (University of Florida, michael.mcdonald@ufl.edu) *
Discussant: Paul Gronke (Reed College, gronke@reed.edu)
10:45-12:15 Panel 3: Improving transparency
Theatre level, Warfield room
Chair: Steven Livingston (George Washington University, sliv@gwu.edu)
Papers:
3-1. Party representatives, polling stations and electoral manipulation in Mexico
Miguel Rueda (Emory University, miguel.rueda@emory.edu)
Sergio Ascencio (University of Rochester, sascenci@z.rochester.edu)
Syahrul Hidayat (University of Exeter, s.hidayat@exeter.ac.uk)
3-3. Election observation and local perception of election credibility in Tunisia
Lauren Prather (Stanford University, lprather@standord.edu)
Sarah Bush (Temple University, sarah.bush@temple.edu)
3-4. Can domestic election observers reduce electoral manipulation in sub-Saharan Africa?
Merete Seeberg (Aarhus University, m.bech@ps.au.dk)
3-5. EU election observation policy: A supranationalistopportunity?
Matteo Garavoglia (University of Oxford, matteo.garavoglia@politics.ox.ac.uk)
Discussant: Jeffrey Karp (University of Exeter, jeffrey.a.karp@gmail.com)
12:15-12:30 Buffet lunch – served in the Fillmore Foyer
12:30-14:00 Breakout Roundtables – Evaluating projects: what really works
Theatre level, Fillmore AB
David Carroll (The Carter Center, djcarro@emory.edu)
Denis Kadima, (Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Arica, dkadima@eisa.org)
Vasu Mohan, (International Foundation for Electoral Systems, vmohan@ifes.org)
Seema Shah (International Idea, s.shah@idea.int)
Massimo Tomassoli (International IDEA, M.Tommasoli@idea.int)
Chad Vickery (International Foundation for Electoral Systems, cvickery@ifes.org)
Annette Fath-Lihic (International IDEA, a.fath-lihic@idea.int)
From 12.15-12:30 in this informal breakout session, led by a practitioner, groups were asked to discuss an important issue: What really works when evaluating election projects, and what doesn’t? Each table group selected a rapporteur who reported back the key points during the final 15-20 minutes.
14:00-15:30 Panel 4: Legal reforms I
Theatre level, Orpheum room
Chair: Norbert Kersting (University Muenster, kerstinn@uni-muenster.de)
Papers:
4-1. Inclusive parliaments: A way to strengthening electoral integrity
Daniel Stockemer (University of Ottawa, dstockem@uottawa.ca)
Bilel Kchouk (University of Ottawa)
4-2. Citizens’ initiatives for electoral reform in Croatia
Robert Podolnjak (University of Zagreb Law School, robert.podolnjak@pravo.hr)
4-3. Ballot design: The impact of candidate name order
Jon Krosnick (Stanford University, krosnick@stanford.edu)
4-4. Making Carnival Mirror Plane: Blacks in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies
Ana Lucia Henrique (University of Pittsburgh, analuhenrique@gmail.com)
Victor Hernández-Huerta (University of Notre Dame, victorAntonio.hernandezhuerta.1@nd.edu)
Discussant: Todd Donovan (Western Washington University, todd.donovan@wwu.edu)
14:00-15:30 Panel 5: Legal reforms II
Theatre level, Warfield room
Chair: Shaun Bowler (UC Riverside, shaun.bowler@ucr.edu)
Papers:
5-1. Electoral reform in Ireland
Theresa Reidy (University College Cork, t.reidy@ucc.ie)
Fiona Buckley (University College Cork, f.buckley@ucc.ie)
David Farrell (University College Dublin, david.farrell@ucd.ie)
5-2. Tackling electoral malpractice in a divided polity: the case of Northern Ireland
Stuart Wilks-Heeg (University of Liverpool, swilks@liv.ac.uk)
5-3. Flawed laws, flawed elections: local elections inPakistan
Hassan Nasir Mirbahar (Democracy Reporting International, Pakistan, hassanmirani@gmail.com)
5-4. Failing electoral integrity in Hungary: Long-term causes and consequences
Gabriella Ilonszkí (Corvinus University Budapest, gabriella.ilonszki@uni-corvinus.hu)
Réka Várnagy (Corvinus University Budapest, reka.varnagy@uni-corvinus.hu)
5-5. Leveling the playing field: How political advertising helps locally non-dominant parties in Mexico
John Marshall (Harvard University, jlmarsh@fas.harvard.edu)
Horacio Larreguy (Harvard University, hlarreguy@fas.harvard.edu) *
James Snyder (Harvard University, jsnyder@gov.harvard.edu) *
Discussant: Alessandro Nai (University of Sydney, alessandro.nai@sydney.edu.au)
15:30-16:00 Refreshment break – served in the Fillmore Foyer
16:00-17:30 Panel 6: The international community
Theatre level, Orpheum room
Chair: Annette Fath-Lihic (International IDEA, a.fath-lihic@idea.int)
Papers:
6-1. Choosing from the menu of manipulation
Carolien van Ham (University of New South Wales, carolien.vanham@eui.eu) and Staffan Lindberg
6-2. International enforcement of electoral norms
Daniela Donno (University of Pittsburgh, donno@pitt.edu)
6-3. Trust us: Technical election assistance and post-election violence
Inken von Borzyskowski (Florida State University, i.borzyskowski@fsu.edu)
Craig Arceneaux (California State Politechnic University, carcenea@calpoly.edu)
Anika Leithner (California State Politechnic University, aleithne@calpoly.edu) *
6-5. Electoral integrity, 2013-2015: A multilevel explanatory model
Richard Frank (Australian National University, richard.frank@anu.edu.au)
Ferran Martínez i Coma (University of Sydney, ferran.martinezcoma@sydney.edu.au)
Discussant: Nicolay Marinov (University of Mannheim niki.marinov@gmail.com)
16:00-17:30 Panel 7: Campaign money and media
Theatre level, Warfield room
Chair: Alessandro Nai (University of Sydney, alessandro.nai@sydney.edu.au)
Papers:
7-1. Assessing practice and regulations in 54 countries across the world in 2014
Michael Moses (Global Integrity, michael.moses@globalintegrity.org)
7-3. Checkbook elections: political finance in comparative perspective
Lisa Fennis (University of Sydney, lisa.fennis@sydney.edu.au)
7-2. Demand and capacity in African Sub-National election manipulation - new evidence and data from Malawi
Michael Wahman (University of Missouri, wahmanm@missouri.edu)
Discussant: Diana Dwyre (California State University, ddwyre@csuchico.edu)
17:30-19:00 Drinks reception and book launching celebration
Theatre level, Fillmore AB
19:15-21:00 Dinner by invitation for paper-givers, discussants and chairs
Zingari Ristorante, a Northern Italian restaurant on 501 Post Street, Union Square (b/t Mason St & Taylor St), one block from the Hyatt.