Electoral Mechanisms Research Articles

Electoral Discrimination: The Relationship between Skin Color and Vote Buying in Latin America

AbstractUnder what conditions do elections produce racially discriminatory outcomes? This article proposes electoral discrimination as an electoral mechanism for racial marginalization in indigenous and Afro-descendant Latin America. Electoral discrimination occurs when voters are mobilized under differential terms of electoral inclusion based on their observable characteristics. Using the 2010–2014 rounds of the AmericasBarometer and a conjoint experiment, the author finds that skin color is a robust predictor of vote buying across countries in the region with large, visible black and indigenous populations. A significant portion of the relationship between skin color and vote buying is due to the disproportionate impacts of race-neutral targeting criteria on dark-skinned voters. Observed differences in wealth, political and civic engagement, partisanship, political interest, interpersonal trust, and geography together explain a portion of the skin color–client gap, although the individual contribution of each of these factors differs by country. In addition, the author finds an independent relationship between skin color and vote buying over and above these race-neutral factors. The argument and findings in this article speak broadly to the consequences of electoral mobilization in ethnoracially stratified states in Latin America and beyond.

The Monetisation of Consent and its Limits: Explaining Political Dominance and Decline in Malaysia

ABSTRACTMalaysia’s 14th General Election in 2018 toppled the Barisan Nasional government after six decades in power. Barisan Nasional’s longevity was due to its performance legitimacy and a capacity to manipulate electoral mechanisms. However, it was the use of money in eliciting consent that led to a political change. This article traces how sustaining the dominance of the Barisan Nasional under Najib Razak used a strategy which we term the monetisation of consent. However, when monetising consent loses its efficacy, political dominance is challenged. We discuss why and how manufacturing consent through the use of money has its limits when regime legitimacy is challenged. Intense political competition on the electoral terrain from 2008 and the multiplication of Malay-Muslim political parties induced Najib’s greater personal grip on state funds to gain political support. This resulted in the Najib regime’s kleptocratic turn. Beyond the disbursement of largesse to political power brokers and business elites, his government monetised consent as a populist strategy. The reduced efficacy of electoral manipulation made the monetisation of consent imperative for regime survival but the use of money and unpopular fiscal policies, which deprived citizens of disposable income, led to a legitimacy crisis and the Barisan Nasional’s defeat.

The phenomenon of absenteeism in pre-revolutionary Russia

The author analyses the history of absenteeism in Russia and notes the relationship of modern electoral problems related to low voter turnout, political apathy, and a lack of understanding of the importance of electoral mechanisms by many voters with the historical conditions for the formation of representative institutions. It is noted, on the one hand, the existence of self-government in the peasant community, and on the other, indifference, lack of understanding of the significance of the election of deputies sent to Zemstvo councils. The article deals with the attitude to the elections as a heavy duty was also characteristic of the Petrine era – the election of burgomasters in Moscow, the establishment of a city government for financial and judicial affairs, which was not supported by most cities. A more favourable attitude to the elections was formed only when the deputies were convened in the laid commission under Catherine II. The author also considers the attitude of voters towards elections to bodies that emerged as a result of the Zemstvo reform, and elections to the State Duma of the Russian Empire.

US Trade Policy, President Trump and the KORUS FTA

President Trump criticized the KORUS FTA and in 2018 South Korea and the United States renegotiated the KORUS. What explains Trump’s antipathy? Why has he departed so radically from prior US free trade policy? I answer these questions by making four arguments. First, President Trump’s protectionism is a surprising reversal given the range of US interests, institutions, and ideology supporting free trade. Second, while conceding that economic interests of low-skilled workers interacted with the electoral mechanisms of democracy to facilitate Trump’s anti-KORUS position, I argue that the most important explanation is Trump’s personal economic ideology. Third, trade policy during the Trump presidency is explained by the extent to which President Trump’s cabinet has―or has not―been able to constrain his personal protectionist instincts. Fourth, the institutional process of renegotiating the KORUS FTA further constrained Trump’s protectionism.

Representação descritiva em assembleias legislativas: gênero e raça como categorias de análise política

Based on empirical data, this article explores the relationships between the descriptive and substantive representation of women and black people in state assemblies in three regions of Brazil. The proposed model, based on the analysis of roles and electoral socialization mechanisms, compares the descriptive and substantive representation of women (N = 15) with a random sample of male deputies (N = 65), which made it possible to measure possible effects caused by factors such as gender and skin color in the legislative production and in the parliamentary performance of the sampled deputies. Data were collected from the biographical repertoire and legislative production of deputies. Personal interviews were carried out and a questionnaire of 65 items was administered. Correlations between the variables of interest and the profiles of the deputies, their political trajectory, and parliamentary activity were established. A sample of men legislators was compared against a sample of female ones. Compared to the male group, significantly higher rates of female deputies’ specific legislative production were found, although not all members of the descriptive groups behave as ambassadors or ground their parliamentary activities mainly on issues pertaining to democracy of race and gender. Keywords: legislative, descriptive representation, gender, race.

Comprehensive Retrospective Voting in Mixed Electoral Systems: Evidence from the 2016 Korean Legislative Election

AbstractPerformance-based retrospective voting is a fundamental mechanism of democracy. A good deal of scholarship has examined this electoral mechanism, but the extant studies have two omissions. First, there is little research that considers several retrospective evaluations together using an incumbent voting model. Second, there is little research that examines the difference in the effects of voters’ retrospective evaluations on two different ballots in mixed electoral systems. To fill these omissions, this article tests a comprehensive retrospective performance voting model in a mixed electoral system. Specifically, this article examines the effects of voters’ retrospective economic evaluations of economic performance at the national and personal levels, human rights, corruption, welfare protection, and foreign policy on vote choice for the incumbent party in the 2016 Korean legislative election in which voters had two ballots: one for the party list vote and one for the district vote. By using multinomial logistic regression models, this article finds that among the six retrospective evaluation categories, judgments of national economic performance at the national level, human rights, and foreign policy have a statistically significant impact on the likelihood of voting for the incumbent party in party list vote choice, whereas only voters’ evaluation of foreign policy matter in the district level vote decision. The results imply that Korean voters consider various aspects of government performance, such as the conditions of human rights and relationships with other countries, rather than just focusing on the economy. The retrospective voting behavior of Korean voters differs between party list and district level ballots.

How Politics Influences the Energy Pricing Decisions of Elected Public Utilities Commissioners

An argument of those supporting the direct election of regulators is that election allows voter preferences to be translated easily into policy outcomes. However, a danger of this approach is that the low salience of regulatory issues among the median voter could allow for regulatory capture, where regulated firms use their influence to extract favorable outcomes. Although the role that institutional design plays in influencing capture has been evaluated by comparing appointed and elected regulators, evidence of the capture of elected regulators remains scant, and we know little about the conditions that may mitigate such capture. Here, we study electricity rate-making by Arizona's elected public utilities commission to determine how the economy, citizen complaints, and industry and interest group lobbying affect rate decisions. Leveraging original quantitative and interview data, we find that commissioners respond to voters and set pro-consumer electricity prices when inflation rises and when citizen complaints increase. We do not find that industry and interest group lobbying influence rate-making. We argue that commissioners are pro-behavior because prices are salient, and commissioners desire reelection. The result suggests that the electoral mechanism reduces chances of regulatory capture, although the matter of electoral pandering remains unresolved.

Кадровая проблематика местного самоуправления на современном этапе

The paper examines the personnel problems of local government from the perspective of the concept of human capital. The main factors in the formation of human capital – domestic education and the cultural environment – are currently in a crisis state and have a contradictory effect on the quality of human resources. Their dysfunctionalism lies in the fact that the sphere of higher education is losing its educational role, turning from a leading agent of socialization into a regular service provider. Moral uncertainty is exacerbated by the cultural environment, which is characterized by value eclecticism and anomization. The survey results allow us to draw the following conclusions: 1) education itself has a weak connection with management practice; 2) the formation of personal and moral qualities is hindered by the socializing effect of anomizational society, as well as the dysfunctional nature of the electoral mechanism that does not create a “filter” of personnel selection on a moral basis.

ЕВОЛЮЦІЯ ПАРТІЙНОЇ СИСТЕМИ РЕСПУБЛІКИ КІПР: ВІД ЗАРОДЖЕННЯ ДО СТАБІЛІЗАЦІЇ

The process of the formation of the party system of Cyprus was considered. The period from colonial to 1981 is covered. The factors that influenced the evolution of the parties of Cyprus, in particular the internal conflict, were underlined. Emphasizes the importance of the ethnic component of the population of Cyprus. The attention was paid to the role of the Orthodox Church in shaping the political system of Cyprus. The article analyzes the norms of the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus (1960) concerning political parties, in which the focus was on the parliamentary aspect of party activity. The role of Archbishop Makarios III, the first president of Cyprus, for the further evolution of the party system in the 1960–70s was revealed. Presented chronology of the appearance of the main parties of Cyprus and their participation in elections and coalitions. The article emphasizes that after the accession of Cyprus to the EU in 2004, the party system of the state is experiencing the trend of the newest European tendencies on the national party palette: the level of people’s confidence in the parties is decreasing, the party identity is blurred, the voter turnout is gradually decreasing, new types of parties are emerging, Radicalization is notable and so on. The party system of Cyprus is special, even if only within the EU there is a pro-communist party (Progressive Party of the Labor People of Cyprus), represented in the European Parliament, among the leading political forces. It was emphasized that the political parties of Cyprus until 1974 were purely electoral mechanisms. The new stage of development began with the stabilization of the post-colonial political system of Cyprus. At this time, the church lost its past influence, and the majoritarian electoral system alienated itself. This led to a new stage in the development of the party system in the late 1970s. It is noted that the determining factor was the transition to a proportional electoral system and the introduction of mandatory participation of voters in the vote. It was emphasized that these legislative innovations became important factors in the development of the modern party system of Cyprus. Since that time, the Cypriot parties have become more independent and united in the coalition.

Why Does Social Capital Increase Government Performance? The Role of Local Elections across Italian Municipalities

There is wide consensus that social capital increases government performance. However, the very mechanism underlying the relationship between social capital and well-performing governments remains unclear. In this paper we focus on the budgetary composition of local governments and find that the joint effect of larger social capital and higher quality in government’s spending improves the re-election chances of incumbent policy makers. By looking at 8,000 Italian municipalities over the period 2003-2012, we show that incumbent mayors who carry out a forward-looking and transparent fiscal agenda are more likely to be reelected where the level of local social capital is larger. In contexts with larger social capital, we obtain a non-trivial average effect of a 54% larger probability to be reelected when a more forward-looking agenda is in place. Thus, the good conduct of incumbent mayors is rewarded, but only in contexts with more social capital. Twin estimates considering a more transparent fiscal agenda are not significant but show the predicted sign and the comparable size of a 31% larger probability. Our evidence is robust when controlling for the political budget cycle, and provides ground for further exploration of the electoral mechanism as an important channel to explain the connection between social capital and good government performance.

Strategies of Election Rigging: Trade-Offs, Determinants, and Consequences

Ideally, elections should peacefully allocate political power and remove bad leaders from office. We study how the electoral mechanism performs when the government can rig elections by manipulating the electoral process ex ante and by falsifying election returns ex post. The extent to which elections contribute to peace and accountability depends on how incumbents trade-off between the two strategies given the institutional constraints. An option to falsify election results without being exposed increases the risk of conflict even if that option is not realized in equilibrium, but an option to use ex-ante manipulation reduces the risk of conflict. Imposing constraints on one strategy of election rigging when the incumbent can substitute it with another leads to perverse trade-offs: Constraining ex-ante manipulation raises the risk of conflict, but may improve accountability. Making ex-post falsification more difficult to hide improves the prospect of peace, but worsens accountability.

O desprezo da política eleitoral: crise da representação e legitimidade contra-democrática na obra de Pierre Rosanvallon

O artigo analisa as transformações recentes na democracia representativa a partir das contribuições de Pierre Rosanvallon, sob a perspectiva de uma democracia mais justa e equitativa. Rosanvallon se opõe à redução da política democrática ao procedimento eleitoral, e propõe uma teorização que pretende ampliar o sentido da ação política para além do mecanismo eleitoral. A ideia de contrademocracia integra o conjunto das instituições que agiriam como contraponto, criando novas formas de legitimação política, ausentes nas concepções minimalistas de democracia eleitoral. Em vez de lamentar a queda do sistema eleitoral como veículo da vontade popular, o autor francês celebra a emergência de formas não eleitorais de accountability. O artigo argumenta que, embora pretenda ampliar o sentido da ação política para além da representação formal, o autor promove a desqualificação da política eleitoral e despolitiza a representação em benefício de poderes não eleitos.

Democratic Representation and the Property Franchise in Australian Local Government

Australia remains one of the last liberal democracies to retain a property franchise at the local government level. This particular feature is both the result of historical particularities and contemporary political arrangements. This article analyses the property franchise in the City of Melbourne, the capital of the Australian State of Victoria, based on democratic theory and an empirical study. It illustrates the tensions between the democratic principles of representation and political equality in defining structures for representation at the local government level. The authors suggest that a more nuanced interpretation of representation can be adopted at a local level based on territorial residency rather than legal citizenship. Despite this, based on analysis of both electoral and non-electoral mechanisms, the property franchises are found to be anachronistic and indefensible from a democratic perspective and unrelated to the status of capital city. The article concludes that, at a local level, deliberative democracy holds the promise to better represent various interests, including property interests.

Komparasi Mekanisme Penyelesaian Sengketa Pemilu di Beberapa Negara Penganut Paham Demokrasi Konstitusional

Every country in the world, moreover in every country which has implemented the way of life of democcratic and nation, presume that election is one of the important element as a marker of democracy of the country and also has a practical function of government political as a succession’s tool between the government parties and the oposition parties. In every democratic constitutional state, the election process has a purpose to embody will of the people into pattern of power without violence.The election process will not only be assessed by sticking to the existing legal framework but the laws, codes of conduct of the election and its implementation needs to be tested and adjusted if it is in accordance with its primary purpose or not without ignoring the rights of individuals or people. In the process of the general election, the election process does not always run smoothly. Various obstacles in the implementation of good elections that occurred both during and previous election, is a problem that certainly would have widely spread impact if not immediately resolved. The existence of problems in the election related to dissatisfaction of decision of the election or criminal violations and administrative which can influence the result of election is commonly known by electoral disputes. In order the election dispute does not disturb the constitutional system or system of government of a country or region, it requires an electoral dispute resolution mechanisms that effective and can give a fair decision to the parties.The main problem is how the benchmark of an electoral dispute resolution mechanisms that are effective? Because, if traced further and reflect on democracies country in the world, not all democracies country, especially the democracies country which basing on the supremacy of the constitution, has the same electoral dispute resolution mechanisms between one country to another country. This is very important, because by knowing the measure or the benchmark of the effectiveness of an electoral dispute resolution mechanisms, we can consider to choose which electoral dispute resolution mechanisms that appropriate and give the fairness to the parties and society in general.

Salida, voz o lealtad. Orientaciones y formas de participación en América Latina

En America Latina, el desencanto de los ciudadanos con las instituciones representativas de gobierno ha sido evidenciado por una multiplicidad de trabajos a lo largo de las ultimas dos decadas. Este desaliento ha sido provocado por la baja calidad de los procesos gubernativos de las democracias latinoamericanas. Escandalos de corrupcion, elecciones sospechadas, decisiones no representativas de los intereses ciudadanos y problemas estructurales no resueltos como la pobreza o la desigualdad ayudan a explicar las actitudes generalizadas de desconfianza institucional.Esta constatacion ha reflotado la discusion sobre la importancia de contar con mecanismos que favorezcan una mayor participacion de los ciudadanos en los procesos de toma de decisiones, incluyendo la asistencia periodica a las urnas. Sin embargo, poco sabemos acerca del perfil de aquellos que ante una caida en la calidad de los procesos de gobierno deciden participar —ya sea de manera propositiva, ya de manera directa— asi como de quienes deciden ‘salir’; es decir, abstenerse de participar en los asuntos publicos. Partiendo del trabajo seminal de Albert Hirschman (1977), y partir del analisis de datos de opinion publica de la onda 2008 del Latinobarometro, el presente trabajo se propone responder a estos interrogantes, asi como discutir las implicaciones de las respuestas derivadas de la evidencia.

Citizen wellbeing in African competitive authoritarian regimes

Africa’s political landscape has changed profoundly over the past two decades. The crisis of many military and single-party regimes led to the widespread adoption of reforms that, in many countries, stopped short of full democratization but opened the way to the institutionalization of limited forms of political competition. While it is now evident that competitive authoritarianism is not a transitory phenomenon, it is less clear whether formal democratic institutions may nonetheless have a beneficial effect. Specifically, yet to be evaluated is the ability of these democratic institutions to shape government commitment to improving the wellbeing of citizens in an environment deeply affected by neo-patrimonial practices, such as African politics. This article presents the findings of one of the first inquiries into the socioeconomic consequences of competitive authoritarianism. Our main conclusion is that electoral mechanisms do favour some social improvements even within the context of an authoritarian setting.

Horizontal accountability and the challenges for democratic consolidation in Africa: evidence from Liberia

ABSTRACTWhy are most African emerging democracies failing to consolidate and reach the two-turnover test? Most scholars attribute this to the poor quality of elections and limited institutionalization of vertical accountability, overlooking some important variables. This article challenges this conception both theoretically and empirically by focusing on the quality of horizontal accountability illustrated by observations of comparative interest in Liberia's emerging democracy. Since the end of Liberia's bloody civil war in 2003, two successive and successful democratic elections (2005 and 2011) have been organized, putting Liberia on the path towards democratic consolidation. When analysing the electoral mechanism of vertical2016 accountability, many scholars have been enthusiastic about the prospects of democratic consolidation in Liberia, most of them neglecting the horizontal accountability processes that are also crucial for the quality and durability of democracy. This article analyses the processes and challenges of democratic consolidation in Liberia by focusing on key institutions of horizontal accountability. It argues that although the country has made some progress towards democratization since 2005, the domination and centralization of executive power, weak and dependent institutions of horizontal accountability (legislature, judiciary, national elections commission, general auditing commission, and anti-corruption commission) are major challenges to the consolidation of democracy. These findings have important implications for our understanding of horizontal accountability and democratic consolidation in African emerging democracies.

THE EVOLUTION OF POLITICAL SYSTEM AND POLITICAL MODERNIZATION IN CHINA: PROBLEMS AND ADVANTAGES OF THE CHINESE MODEL

I the context of socio-cultural specificity of the region, China presents a special case of gradual political modernization. Political stability is guaranteed as a result of the evolution of all spheres of political life while maintaining the basic political mechanisms. The article studies the mechanism of Chinese elite recruitment and rotation and the evolution of local-level electoral mechanisms, oriented at competitiveness raising at election time. The article concludes that gradual economic and political transformations during reform years led to the development of a specific Chinese civil society whose demands at the new phase of social development can only be met by further modernization of the political and economic systems.

Institutional reforms and their effect on legislators’ behavior

Do electoral systems and intra-party candidate selection procedures influence the degree to which parties act in unison? Whereas the theoretical literature is quite clear about the hypothetical effect of these institutions, empirical evidence is mixed. In this article, I solve the puzzle and theorize about the interactive effects of elections and selections on parties’ behavior. I argue that the effect of candidate selections depends on the electoral environment within which they operate. Specifically, in an electoral environment that creates incentives for candidate-centeredness, the less restrictive the selection method a party uses, the less unified its record; whereas in an electoral environment that emphasizes party-centeredness, the effect of selections on unity is more muted. Using the electoral reform and divergent selection mechanisms characterizing Israel during the last three decades and utilizing Rice Scores, I provide support for the conditional effect of electoral systems and selection procedures on party behavior.

Voices and Votes in the Fields of Settler Society: American Indian Media and Electoral Politics in 1930s Wisconsin

AbstractIn 1939, Wisconsin readers of a weekly newspaper column by Mitchell Redcloud, a member of the Ho-Chunk Indian community settled within the rural township of Komensky, were greeted with a set of headlines from the imaginary “Komensky News” about an actual local event. The headlines reported that despite opposition from local whites, Ho-Chunk people had successfully elected a Ho-Chunk candidate to the township board. This article draws on studies of Indigenous media and recent efforts to develop field-theoretic accounts of social action to understand the interdependence of Redcloud's headlines and the Ho-Chunk vote as part of an incipient project of Indigenous political action. Using census records, I first describe the positions in the everyday field of race and class relations that Ho-Chunk people occupied in Komensky, based on their incomes, educations, and occupational statuses. I then draw on this description to understand Redcloud's position-taking strategies before the election. I next examine Redcloud's writing career in the newspaper to understand his strategy of self-positioning as a marked Indian voice within a print-based discursive field that denigrated other Ho-Chunk voices. I finish by examining new position-taking strategies manifest in the 1939 vote and in Redcloud's turn to headline register. I argue that both media and electoral mechanisms offered relatively autonomous fields that made these experiments with Indigenous action possible despite the absence of tribal political institutions necessary to transform the positions Ho-Chunk people occupied in their everyday lives. Together, the headlines and the election suggest the interdependence of activism carried out in media and in governmental structures in the production of transformative acts of political self-representation.