История международного наблюдения за выборами

Abstract

This paper addresses some of the gaps in the contemporary study of development of institution of international election observation. In most literatures, only modern period of development of international election observation has attracted considerable scholarly attention. Activities of particular international organization also limit the scope of study in this field. To provide an alternative viewpoint, this paper develops a comprehensive study of international election observation history since its origin in the context of historical conditions and evolution of political regimes. The role of objective and subjective factors in the development of this phenomenon has been revealed. The primary sources of the study are documents of international organizations, media materials and memoirs of statesmen. The paper distinguishes the following three historical forms of the international election observation: 1) International observation as a means of making up for the deficit of state sovereignty during elections in dependent, disputed or postconflict territories (emerged in 1857); 2) International observation as a means used by the governments of sovereign states to further legitimize elections and the existing political regime (emerged in 1962); 3) International observation as a mechanism for democratizing the electoral process (emerged in 1990). In accordance with this approach, a periodization of the history of the international observation is proposed. The paper concludes that these historical forms of election observation did not replace each other, but continued to exist in parallel after emergence of new forms. The spread of the third historical form was predetermined by the fall of the communist regime and the shift to the paradigm of democratic transition. Election observation became a tool to ensure the success of the democratic transition. The international intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations became the most significant conductors of election observation. In the 21st century the international election observation gained the universal acceptance and became an international norm. The crisis of this institution in the 2010s is explained by its inability to ensure the transition to the liberal model of democracy. In these conditions, there is a confrontation between two historical forms of international observation: some developing countries revive and try to spread the form of election observation that serves not to democratize the electoral process, but to ensure the legitimacy of the election results and political regime.