ABSTRACT

Following a normative approach that suggests international norms and standards for elections apply universally, regardless of regime type or cultural context, this book examines the challenges to electoral integrity, the actors involved, and the consequences of electoral malpractice and poor electoral integrity that vary by regime type. It bridges the literature on electoral integrity with that of political regime types.

Looking specifically at questions of innovation and learning, corruption and organized crime, political efficacy and turnout, the threat of electoral violence and protest, and finally, the possibility of regime change, it seeks to expand the scholarly understanding of electoral integrity and diverse regimes by exploring the diversity of challenges to electoral integrity, the diversity of actors that are involved and the diversity of consequences that can result.

This text will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners of electoral studies, and more broadly of relevance to comparative politics, international development, political behaviour and democracy, democratization, and autocracy.

chapter 1|17 pages

Introduction

part 1|57 pages

Actors and strategies

chapter 2|25 pages

Do methods of fraud and electoral malpractice evolve?

Western pressure and learning mechanisms in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan

chapter 4|16 pages

Trapped in transition

When crime and politics collude

part 2|58 pages

Consequences

chapter 6|13 pages

Electoral violence

Patterns and trends 1

chapter 7|22 pages

When do elections subvert authoritarianism?

Electoral malpractice and variety of post-electoral scenarios 1

part 3|10 pages

Conclusions

chapter 8|10 pages

Conclusion