This rapid literature review explains the stages of an election cycle, and how donors provide support to electoral cycles. It draws mainly on policy guidance websites and papers due to the questions of this review and the level of analysis taken (global-level, donor-level). It focuses on publications from the last five years, and/or current/forthcoming donor strategies. The ...» more
Democracy & elections
Developing More Inclusive Politics Through Sub-national Electoral Processes
In post-conflict environments, the international community plays an important role in supporting successful planning, delivery, and embedding of elections within a wider context of support to political systems and democratisation. This rapid review provides an overview of lessons on developing more inclusive politics through sub-national electoral processes in recent academic, ...» more
Who are the Elite Groups in Iraq and How do they Exercise Power
The 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq transformed Iraq’s political settlement by ejecting the previous elites from power and by initiating state-building processes with previously marginalised elites and different governance principles. Iraq’s current day elites and institutions are the inheritors of that process. This review summarises the post-2003 processes that structure the ...» more
Factors affecting success or failure of political transitions
Political transitions from authoritarian rule to democracy can have a variety of outcomes. This rapid literature review looks at the factors affecting the success or failure of political transitions. Because of the diverse nature of the countries that have experienced political transitions it is very difficult to come up with a list of ‘best practices’ (Lowenthal & Bitar, ...» more
Donor support for post-conflict elections
Well-timed elections can contribute to conflict resolution and help to consolidate a peace agreement or power-sharing deal among elites. But elections also have the potential to reignite hostilities. This report examines the following key factors, and how they have played out in recent post-conflict elections in Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Nepal: The content and ...» more
