Electoral backsliding? Democratic divergence and trajectories in the quality of elections worldwide

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Garnett, Holly Ann and James, Toby S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5826-5461 (2023) Electoral backsliding? Democratic divergence and trajectories in the quality of elections worldwide. Electoral Studies, 86. ISSN 0261-3794

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Abstract

Throughout the world, scholars and international organisations have voiced their concern in recent years that democracy appears to be ‘backsliding.’ Elections are an indispensable part of the democratic system, but there has been relatively little focus on whether we have witnessed ‘electoral backsliding’. This special issue introductory article considers three rival theses (backsliding, strengthening and divergence) about the trajectory of election quality in response to new structural changes - which are evaluated against empirical datasets. The evidence provides little support electoral backsliding at the aggregate level. There is a continued need to monitor patterns of election quality for signals of future electoral backsliding. The research agenda on electoral integrity therefore remains an indispensable one. However, existing narratives about democratic backsliding should be more nuanced to the more complex and varied trajectories in the integrity of key democratic institutions.

Item Type: Article
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Policy & Politics
Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Political, Social and International Studies
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 29 Sep 2023 08:30
Last Modified: 24 Oct 2023 01:41
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/93132
DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2023.102696

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