The Comparative Study of Electoral Governance—Introduction

Shaheen Mozaffar, Andreas Schedler

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

Electoral governance is a crucial variable in securing the credibility of elections in emerging democracies, but remains largely ignored in the comparative study of democratization. This article develops some basic analytical tools to advance comparative analysis and understanding of this neglected topic. It conceptualizes electoral governance as a set of related activities that involves rule making, rule application, and rule adjudication. It identifies the provision of procedural certainty to secure the substantive uncertainty of democratic elections as the principal task of electoral governance. It argues that electoral governance, while socially and institutionally embedded, matters most during the indeterminate conditions that typically attend democratization. Finally, it outlines a research agenda that covers the comparative study of the structures as well as the processes of electoral governance.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5-27
Number of pages23
JournalInternational Political Science Review
Volume23
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2002
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Democracy
  • Democratization
  • Elections
  • Electoral governance
  • Electoral institutions

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