Do international election monitors increase or decrease opposition boycotts?

dc.contributor.author

Kelley, J

dc.date.accessioned

2016-08-01T14:04:36Z

dc.date.issued

2011-11-01

dc.description.abstract

Election boycotts are over twice as common when international observers are present. Do international observers increase election boycotts as this correlation and past research suggest? This article argues not. Observers tend to go to elections with many problems, and it is primarily these, rather than monitors, that drive boycotts. Furthermore, opposition parties have reasons to hope that observers can improve the quality of the election or that they will increase attention to election fraud, and therefore opposition parties may actually abandon boycott plans. Whether they do, however, depends on their expectations about how the observers will behave. This makes it important to account for the varying reputation of observer organizations. Thus, using matching to address the selection problem, this article shows that international observers can actually deter boycotts, but only if the observers are reputable. © The Author(s) 2011.

dc.identifier.eissn

1552-3829

dc.identifier.issn

0010-4140

dc.identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10161/12527

dc.publisher

SAGE Publications

dc.relation.ispartof

Comparative Political Studies

dc.relation.isversionof

10.1177/0010414011399885

dc.title

Do international election monitors increase or decrease opposition boycotts?

dc.type

Journal article

duke.contributor.orcid

Kelley, J|0000-0002-1154-2943

pubs.begin-page

1527

pubs.end-page

1556

pubs.issue

11

pubs.organisational-group

Duke

pubs.organisational-group

Political Science

pubs.organisational-group

Sanford School of Public Policy

pubs.organisational-group

Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

pubs.publication-status

Published

pubs.volume

44

Files

Original bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
CPS 2011.pdf
Size:
485.83 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format