Elections matter for so many reasons not least for an orderly transfer of power, and for citizens to reflect on, interact with, and directly affect their state institutions. The performance of electoral management bodies can make the difference between an election that is accepted with an orderly transition of power, or an election result that is challenged with ensuing problems of violence or societal instability. This ground-breaking study is the first to give election management the serious scholarly attention it rightly deserves. Toby James insights on organising elections will provide valuable evidence-based advice for policy makers and election practitioners alike.
Therese Pearce Laanela, Head of Electoral Processes, International IDEA
In Comparative Electoral Management Toby James provides an in-depth comparative analysis of one of the core administrative functions of democracy. Rich in data and innovative conceptualisation, the book draws on insights from a variety of disciplines to address a topic, the urgency of which is rapidly becoming apparent to citizens the world over. The result is a highly informed and perceptive analysis of how elections are run and how they might be improved.
Sarah Birch, Kings College London, UK
Toby James demonstrates very convincingly in this major book that electoral management matters a lot for the quality of elections and for how reliable election results are as a reflection of the electorates intentions. Comparative Electoral Management is, therefore, a book that will be of great value for at least three audiences: students of elections, electoral practitioners, and hopefully politicians interested in the improvement of the quality of elections and electoral administration in their country.
Jrgen Elklit, Aarhus University, Denmark
Comparative Electoral Management
This book offers the first comparative monograph on the management of elections.
The book defines electoral management as a new, inter-disciplinary area and advances a realist sociological approach to study it. A series of new, original frameworks are introduced, including the PROSeS framework, which can be used by academics and practitioners around the world to evaluate electoral management quality. A networked governance approach is also introduced to understand the full range of collaborative actors involved in delivering elections, including civil society and the international community. Finally, the book evaluates some of the policy instruments used to improve the integrity of elections, including voter registration reform, training and the funding of elections. Extensive mixed methods are used throughout including thematic analysis of interviews, (auto-) ethnography, comparative historical analysis and cross-national and national surveys of electoral officials.
This text will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners interested and involved in electoral integrity and elections, and more broadly to comparative politics, public administration, international relations and democracy studies.
Toby S. James is a Professor of Politics and Public Policy at the University of East Anglia, UK.
Routledge Studies in Elections, Democracy and Autocracy
Series editors:
Pippa Norris
Harvard University, USA, and the University of Sydney, Australia
Carolien van Ham
The University of New South Wales, Australia.
This series addresses the quality of elections, how and why electoral contests fall short of international standards, and the implications of flawed elections for democracy and autocracy. The series is published in association with the Electoral Integrity Project.
Election Administration and the Politics of Voter Access
Kevin Pallister
Electoral Rights in Europe
Advances and Challenges
Edited by Helen Hardman and Brice Dickson
Electoral Integrity and Political Regimes
Actors, Strategies and Consequences
Edited by Holly Ann Garnett and Margarita Zavadskaya
State Capacity, Economic Control, and Authoritarian Elections
Merete Seeberg
Comparative Electoral Management
Performance, Networks and Instruments
Toby S. James
Comparative Electoral Management
Performance, Networks and Instruments
Toby S. James
First published 2020
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2020 Toby S. James
The right of Toby S. James to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
With the exception of Chapter 1 and Chapter 4, no part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: James, Toby S., 1979 author.
Title: Comparative electoral management : performance, networks, and instruments / Toby S. James.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2020. |
Series: Routledge studies in elections, democracy, and autocracy | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019027849 (print) | LCCN 2019027850 (ebook) | ISBN 9781138682412 (hardback) | ISBN 9781315545172 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: ElectionsManagement. | ElectionsCorrupt practices. | Election monitoring.
Classification: LCC JF1001 .J289 2020 (print) | LCC JF1001 (ebook) | DDC 324.6dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019027849
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019027850
ISBN: 978-1-138-68241-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-54517-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Part I
Foundations
Part II
Performance
Part III
Networks
Part IV
Instruments
Part V
Looking forward
The idea for this book began, roughly a decade before it was published, in a meeting of electoral officials in Wales. Dedicated officials were collaborating across constituency and local authority boundaries to make unseen, micro-level, decisions necessary to organise forthcoming elections, grappling with the many complex challenges involved. As they did so, it became clear to me that although there were (hundreds of) thousands1 of books and articles on elections, few had thought about actually organising one.
