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Home»Governance»Democracy & elections

Democracy & elections

Elections & democracy support reading pack

Developing More Inclusive Politics Through Sub-national Electoral Processes

Helpdesk Report
  • William Avis
June 2020

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

Helpdesk Report
  • Siân Herbert
July 2018

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

Helpdesk Report
  • Anna Strachan
November 2017

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

Helpdesk Report
  • Ed Laws
July 2017

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

Dominant party systems and development programming

Helpdesk Report
  • Edward Laws
October 2016

There is a lack of applied thinking or rigorous empirical investigation into how donors and the international community can work with dominant party systems to promote more responsive state-society relations, or other forms of development progress. Frequently cited examples of existing research are not based on recent, systematic comparative research and focus mainly on ...» more

Religious leaders and the prevention of electoral violence

Helpdesk Report
  • Huma Haider
May 2016

There is limited literature specifically on the role of religious leaders in countering electoral and political violence, even less on ways in which to engage leaders in taking on such a role. While highlighting particular initiatives involving religious leaders during electoral cycles, this report also draws on literature that discusses the engagement of religious actors more ...» more

Factors supporting the emergence of democracies

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
April 2016

This review of empirical case studies in this report suggests that, rather than a single theory to explain democratic transitions, a combination is usually applicable. In all cases it was a mix of factors that supported the emergence of democracies, due to time frames (some short-term, some long-standing) and also origin (some domestic, some external). This report draws on the ...» more

Political economy of conflicts in Kyrgyzstan since the 2000s

Helpdesk Report
  • Emilie Combaz
March 2016

A fundamental finding, widely shared among authors, is that it is not only the national level that matters, but also regional and local ones, in violent and non-violent conflicts. In recent and older history, local conflicts sometime develop into national ones. Other key findings of the literature review include: The root causes of both conflicts are largely similar and ...» more

Voluntary voter registration

Helpdesk Report
December 2015

Voter registration is not just the technical implementation of an activity; it is a holistic political, administrative and practical process. Successful voluntary voter registration schemes tend to be: Responsive to local conditions including the political, economic and social context of the country hosting the election Realistic and affordable given the financial and ...» more

Elections and democracy support

E-Learning
  • Reading pack
  • Thomas Carothers
March 2015

The two main types of international elections support—technical aid for election administration and election monitoring—both got significantly underway in the second half of the 1980s and then mushroomed in the 1990s as democracy spread globally. Both remain active areas today though they are not, as many people in the developing world often think, the largest…» more

Political systems

Topic Guide
  • Zoë Scott; Claire Mcloughlin
December 2014

Political systems are the formal and informal political processes by which decisions are made concerning the use, production and distribution of resources in any given society. Formal political institutions can determine the process for electing leaders; the roles and responsibilities of the executive and legislature; the organisation of political representation (through ...» more

Political party development in Ukraine

Helpdesk Report
  • Sarah Whitmore
September 2014

There are a combination of institutional and structural factors that account for party development in Ukraine. They include: The weakness of ideology in political parties Poor incentives for party institutionalisation due to the design and instability of the institutional rules of the game Extensive use of state administrative resources by regime-supported parties The ...» more

Dealing with election-related violence in fragile and conflict-affected states

Helpdesk Report
  • Sumedh Rao
August 2014

There are a number of causes of election-related violence, which can occur at different stages of the electoral cycle. Dealing with this violence very much depends on understanding these causes and tailoring measures to address them. This report draws on guidance material, evaluation literature and empirical studies to provide a brief overview of measures to prevent and address ...» more

Social mobilisation in urban contexts

Helpdesk Report
  • Sumedh Rao
May 2014

Suggestions for improving urban social mobilisation include: Self-help groups: Creating community groups for expectant mothers, for example, or certain types of workers, can provide a basis for social support. These can used as a basis for social mobilisation to enable the public to demand and gain access to services. Issue-based targeting of individuals and groups: This ...» more

Elected women’s effectiveness at representing women’s interests

Helpdesk Report
  • Evie Browne
May 2014

This rapid literature review collates evidence on women’s actions and interactions in parliaments in Africa. The literature mostly focuses on Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Tanzania (Bauer, 2012). There are several consistent findings from African countries, which enables drawing together key lessons: Effectiveness at representing women’s interests: The presence of ...» more

Working with members of parliament’s constituency funds

Helpdesk Report
  • Siân Herbert
March 2014

The key points from this rapid literature review include: CDFs are a relatively recent phenomenon (with most being established from the 2000s onwards), and they are relatively few in number (Barkan & Mattes, forthcoming). As a result, little is known about them. Countries that have used CDFs include: South Sudan; Philippines; Honduras; Nepal; Pakistan; Jamaica; Solomon Islands; ...» more

Voting behaviour of marginalised groups in Indonesia

Helpdesk Report
  • Anna Strachan
February 2014

While there is limited evidence on the voting behaviour of individual groups living in conflict-afflicted provinces, the literature provides some information about the voting behaviour of people living in ethnically and religiously diverse conflict-afflicted/post-conflict provinces in Indonesia. This rapid literature review found very little evidence on whether other ...» more

Electoral accountability in Indonesia

Helpdesk Report
  • Anna Strachan
February 2014

There are many different definitions of electoral accountability. For the purposes of this report, electoral accountability is defined as citizens’ ability to use electoral mechanisms to incentivise politicians to act in their interests. In his literature review on electoral institutions and local government accountability Packel (2008, p. 1) notes that that “little ...» more

Direct elections and responsiveness in Indonesia

Helpdesk Report
  • Anna Strachan
February 2014

According to Rodden and Wibbels (2012, p. 4), responsiveness refers to a situation where “candidates offer, and then implement, distinctive platforms that reflect constituent preferences or demands.” This is the definition that is used for the purpose of this report. It is difficult to establish whether direct elections are the main driver of responsiveness. This is because ...» more

Voting behaviour in Indonesia Impact of information and performance

Helpdesk Report
  • Anna Strachan
February 2014

The literature is divided on the impact of information about performance in service delivery on voting behaviour. While some authors find that performance information has an impact on voter behaviour, others find that it has no impact on the reelection of incumbents. The literature on the impact of performance in service delivery on voting behaviour in Indonesia is also ...» more

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