This book traces the process by which national elections became international events or, more precisely, what the effects of this process are on state sovereignty. Contrary to the conventional wisdom in International Relations - to judge by the neglect of this phenomenon in the literature - this book argues that the study of IEM does not belong only in the field of comparative politics. As a system-wide phenomenon, IEM should not be restricted to the study of purely domestic politics or of foreign policy. This book contends that sovereignty has been partially transformed by the recent emergence of IEM. Furthermore, the author locates the origins of this change in the Americas, claiming that the western hemisphere's normative structure - what Santa-Cruz calls the Western Hemisphere Idea (WHI) - was particularly conducive to this new understanding of state sovereignty. This is the first work to engage the issue of IEM in a comprehensive manner from a theoretical perspective. International Election Monitoring, Sovereignty, and the Western Hemisphere covers a broad and relevant scholarly literature, and the cases comparisons widen the book's appeal, since they illustrate a useful range of experience.

This book traces the process by which national elections became international events or, more precisely, what the effects of this process are on state sovereignty. Contrary to the conventional wisdom in International Relations - to judge by the neglect of this phenomenon in the literature - this book argues that the study of IEM does not belong only in the field of comparative politics. As a system-wide phenomenon, IEM should not be restricted to the study of purely domestic politics or of foreign policy. This book contends that sovereignty has been partially transformed by the recent emergence of IEM. Furthermore, the author locates the origins of this change in the Americas, claiming that the western hemisphere's normative structure - what Santa-Cruz calls the Western Hemisphere Idea (WHI) - was particularly conducive to this new understanding of state sovereignty. This is the first work to engage the issue of IEM in a comprehensive manner from a theoretical perspective. International Election Monitoring, Sovereignty, and the Western Hemisphere covers a broad and relevant scholarly literature, and the cases comparisons widen the book's appeal, since they illustrate a useful range of experience.

Experience and research have long shown an intrinsic link between human rights, conflict and development. This interdependence between different areas, doctrines, and disciplines calls for a genuinely coherent, holistic approach in International Affairs. With the challenges the work for the protection and respect of humanity encounters, this book intends to bring together articles and ideas that indicate the complexity of such an endeavor. The chapters, written by academics and practitioners encompass snapshots of crucial development lines as well as conceptual ideas and frameworks. In doing so the book provides insight to the principal understanding that peace efforts, encapsulating human rights, conflict management and development, can only be sustained and flourish as long as conflicting parties have at least a minimal consensus and will to settle their differences peacefully. As a Liber Amicorum for Joseph Voyame the book honors the determination for humanity and respect for human dignity and peaceful mitigation of conflict which marked his life and work.

Publisher description

In recent decades, governments and NGOs--in an effort to promote democracy, freedom, fairness, and stability throughout the world--have organized teams of observers to monitor elections in a variety of countries. But when more organizations join the practice without uniform standards, are assessments reliable? When politicians nonetheless cheat and monitors must return to countries even after two decades of engagement, what is accomplished? Monitoring Democracy argues that the practice of international election monitoring is broken, but still worth fixing. By analyzing the evolving interaction between domestic and international politics, Judith Kelley refutes prevailing arguments that international efforts cannot curb government behavior and that democratization is entirely a domestic process. Yet, she also shows that democracy promotion efforts are deficient and that outside actors often have no power and sometimes even do harm. Analyzing original data on over 600 monitoring missions and 1,300 elections, Kelley grounds her investigation in solid historical context as well as studies of long-term developments over several elections in fifteen countries. She pinpoints the weaknesses of international election monitoring and looks at how practitioners and policymakers might help to improve them.

From 1998 to 2005, six elections took place in postcommunist Europe that had the surprising outcome of empowering the opposition and defeating authoritarian incumbents or their designated successors. Valerie J. Bunce and Sharon L. Wolchik compare these unexpected electoral breakthroughs. They draw three conclusions. First, the opposition was victorious because of the hard and creative work of a transnational network composed of local opposition and civil society groups, members of the international democracy assistance community and graduates of successful electoral challenges to authoritarian rule in other countries. Second, the remarkable run of these upset elections reflected the ability of this network to diffuse an ensemble of innovative electoral strategies across state boundaries. Finally, elections can serve as a powerful mechanism for democratic change. This is especially the case when civil society is strong, the transfer of political power is through constitutional means, and opposition leaders win with small mandates.

An engrossing analysis of the pseudo-democratic methods employed by despots around the world to retain control Contrary to what is commonly believed, authoritarian leaders who agree to hold elections are generally able to remain in power longer than autocrats who refuse to allow the populace to vote. In this engaging and provocative book, Nic Cheeseman and Brian Klaas expose the limitations of national elections as a means of promoting democratization, and reveal the six essential strategies that dictators use to undermine the electoral process in order to guarantee victory for themselves. Based on their firsthand experiences as election watchers and their hundreds of interviews with presidents, prime ministers, diplomats, election officials, and conspirators, Cheeseman and Klaas document instances of election rigging from Argentina to Zimbabwe, including notable examples from Brazil, India, Nigeria, Russia, and the United States—touching on the 2016 election. This eye-opening study offers a sobering overview of corrupted professional politics, while providing fertile intellectual ground for the development of new solutions for protecting democracy from authoritarian subversion.