Are polarised elections the hardest to deliver? Explaining global variations in electoral management body performance

James, Toby S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5826-5461 and Garnett, Holly Ann (2023) Are polarised elections the hardest to deliver? Explaining global variations in electoral management body performance. South African Journal of International Affairs, 30 (3). pp. 395-413. ISSN 1022-0461

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Abstract

Electoral management, understood as the application and implementation of electoral rules, is a critical part of democratic governance. But there are often concerns about the quality of electoral management and the performance of electoral management bodies around the world. Despite recent advances, there remains a need for new systematic evidence on the quality of electoral management and analysis of the factors that lead to poorly- or well- run elections. This article therefore maps out global variations in the quality of the public management of elections using a new cross-national dataset and measure. It then explains variations by evaluating the relative importance of bureaucratic culture, the autonomy of electoral authorities, political polarisation in the electorate and the capacity of electoral management bodies. The results provide support for the importance of each of these factors. The effect of political polarisation is an important finding as it is a new threat to elections.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Issue on: Safeguarding Election Management Bodies in the Age of Democratic Recession Funding information: This work was supported by SSHRC; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [grant number 890-2020-0006].
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 16 - peace, justice and strong institutions ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/peace_justice_and_strong_institutions
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
Related URLs:	https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	13 Nov 2023 18:01
Last Modified:	02 Dec 2023 03:33
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/93626
DOI:	10.1080/10220461.2023.2271496

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